A Long Winter's Journey
by AndyH
Summary: After Vale's Breach and during the initial investigation, Team RWBY is confronted with injured partners, truths, and a secret that disturbs the fabric of who they are. With their security in doubt, RWBY is sent on a 3 week sabbatical mission to recuperate in peace. But in the deepest south a discovery awaits, winter approaches, and for Remnant's sun it is the year of Solar Minimum.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Howdy folks. This is my 2nd project and my first dive into writing a RWBY fic. Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, left some giant shoes to fill. It ain't going to be me, not by a long shot! Plus this area of fanfiction is insanely active with a lot of talent around. So it is a bit nerve racking to toss my own effort into the ring ;)

First of all, I am not a casual writer. I'm a high-functioning autistic with ADD (and proud of it). Yeah, projects are given obsessive attention. Most of my chapters are between 15k-20k words long and with perhaps up to a hundred hours or more put into a single one. More than a full time job in a single month. Plus while my health is stable, I do struggle with a number of conditions effecting how much effort I can muster. Please, don't expect weekly or even monthly updates. They come when they are ready and when I am able. But when I start a project, I don't do so lightly and I endeavor to see it to the end. Eventually. Someday.

I also try to write with younger audiences in mind, even if the subject matter becomes more mature. I also am very bad about thanking reviews via PM, given that I am in "recovery mode" when they usually come in. But I do save them all, and I always make a thanks as a public mention since they took the time to share their thoughts publicly. If there is a blindingly obvious error because I was too sleep deprived to notice it, I appreciate that being pointed out so I can fix them ASAP.

So as to the story, it branches off directly after "The Breach" at the end of Volume Two and assumes that the reader is familiar with the world of RWBY. There probably will be some environmental differences between here and cannon due to the inconsistencies between the "Attack on Titan" or "Aliens" level of threat the Grimm are supposedly capable of being and the world of RWBY we see. For example, ever compare the Map of Vale geography with the Map or Remnant? The city is practically the size of Australia, yet our heroines are able to scoot around in an evening! I'll just be trying to find balance where there is some of that sort of thing. I will also be typing Team RWBY in narration and "Team RUBY" in speech because that is how they talk.

 _For those followers who are unfamiliar with RWBY:_  
RWBY is pronounced RUBY. JNPR = Juniper. CVFY = Coffee. STRQ = Stark. Grimm are like a variety of rampant wildlife, only mutated monster versions of it. Life with no soul, only darkness driven to snuff out light. Beowolves get mentioned a lot in RWBY fics, and are like semi-humanoid wolves between 6-12 feet (2-4m) tall. Ursa are like bears, Nevermore are like giant ravens, ect. They are all jet black in color with white bone plates over their faces, and large white spikes and armor plates at various joints and along spinal columns.

* * *

 **A Long Winter's Journey**

It was one of those moments where everyone would remember where they were when it happened. For Professor Ozpin, it was standing before the large window pane in his tower office high above the gardened campus of Beacon Academy and overlooking early morning Vale. He had been sipping from his ever present coffee mug, waiting for developments as the sunrise gave way to blue sky.

He had eventually concluded that Team RWBY had unknowingly been following a similar trail that Qrow had disappeared into the depths of society to unravel, yet had only been able to return a single cryptic phrase of text. A trail that he himself along with Ms. Goodwitch, General Ironwood, and the aforementioned Qrow, had been pursuing quietly for even a longer period of time with even scantier results. On the other hand Team RWBY, while relatively infrequent, had a suspicious tendency to appear at critical junctions of criminal or White Fang activity and at least partially disrupting or interfering with what their mysterious enemy's objective was at the time. Not to mention just how _exactly_ did these students discover that there was a major terrorist hideout southeast of Vale? No one else had been able to uncover anything beyond Torchwick, and that criminal wasn't exactly known for being modest nor discreet.

Ozpin had also known that those girls were not going to stop their extracurricular 'hobby' regardless of how much he nor Beacon's staff tried. Yang Xiao Long was adventurous and confident. Ruby Rose had the pure heart of a people's champion and the bright soul of a huntress determined to protect them from the darkness. Not to mention the innocence and youthful energy to do what was 'right' regardless of circumstances or appropriateness. Blake Belladonna was subtle and understated, familiar with life's dangers and skillful at eluding unwanted attention, but driven and passionate about what she believed in. Hiding her heritage and troubled by a past life as a Faunus that she would barely even hint at. Weiss Schnee was an overly structured and analytic planner combined with an unadmittedly tarnished High Family reputation to uphold. An heiress isolated by her status for most of her life who had grown into her team. Who had access to unimaginably immense resources and connections if the girl had the whim to make so much as a call on her Scroll.

The Kingdom of Vale needed someone to scout out the location of this criminal site. To quietly discover key information and bring that key back for those qualified to use it. Team RWBY was going on their own initiative regardless of whatever obstacles he as Headmaster of Beacon Academy could have put in their way. So he had played along with their little conspiracy. Lamenting with obviously false regret how he would probably never get to the bottom of what Team RWBY had been up to, and covertly advertising the arrangement for a respectable undercover Grimm eradication assignment in Mountain Glenn. After he had briefed Doctor Oobleck in his potential assignment as supervising Huntsman for this reconnoiter, of course.

Professor Ozpin had also not mentioned anything about three of General Ironwood's Air Cavalry gunship squadrons and supporting Air Cruisers that just happened to be patrolling the southeast areas of Vale's walls and perimeter defenses at the same time.

Those girls were determined to do their part, even if they had to do so alone and without anyone else the wiser. It was better that they didn't take that route. Honestly he was quite proud of them, seeing how one day they would make fine Beacon graduates and future Huntresses. Much like Ms. Xiao Long and her little sister's parents a generation ago.

Then the Grimm-Raid sirens around Vale began to drone out their low toned wail. Followed quickly by those surrounding Beacon Academy. In the distance black smoke curled its way high up into the sky from among distant urban cityscape.

Deep down he knew something had gone very wrong and it was related to far off Mountain Glenn.

Professor Ozpin's first response was toward his more local students. He calmly set down his coffee mug and used his own oversized Master Scroll to override the team-only protocols of those belonging to the children who attended his academy. On the holographic display projected above his desk behind him, several hundred picture icons representing each student popped up on a large two dimensional map of the academy, showing the location and aura level of most of their owners. An instant overview of if any of his charges was in distress.

Before he could turn his attention however, Professor Ozpin's eye focused on the three landing pads that lay before the campus and overlooking the cliff that separated Beacon from the rest of Vale down below. One Bullhead tiltjet was loading up with small figures even as its engines spooled up straight from a cold start with a distant scream. The loading ramp not even managing to close before it was airborne. More figures were running in that direction as the two other Bullheads started up their Dust burning turbines.

Ozpin turned away with pride in his students. It hadn't even been twenty seconds since the first sirens awoke and already the few students that had been up early to depart for their off-campus assignments or out on their morning routine were taking the initiative. Reassigning priorities and aborting previous ones on their own authority. Responding without a command regarding what they should or even could do. Acting as the Huntsmen and Huntresses, the future defenders of the world, they were training to be.

The grey haired Headmaster quickly scanned the holographic map outlaid on his desk. Most of Beacon's students were either away and beyond a mere Scroll's signal range, on assignment along the city boundary and other strategic locations, or shown as still in their dorms. It wouldn't do to have _everyone_ still on campus to rush out in an armed but uninformed and disorganized mob, however. Whatever was going on, his immediate responsibility was the security of Beacon Academy and this might only be a beginning move. He would leave others to their own share of responsibilities.

He pressed a highlighted button on his large Scroll, calling every unit that had been issued at Beacon and those on campus. The man searched for and eyed the icons for Team RWBY and Doctor Oobleck still waiting along the display's border along with the other off-campus students. They shouldn't be within range but four of those icons showed status update symbols, resynchronizing with Vale's communications network.

Ozpin spoke with a calm but authoritative voice. "Students and Faculty of Beacon Academy. Remain calm, but understand that this is not a drill. The City of Vale is currently dealing with some form of event. Until we receive reports on the nature of this event and respective authorities can ascertain how we may best be of assistance, all students currently on campus will prepare and assemble according to emergency drill procedures. Await further instructions at your designated assignments."

Ozpin's eyes never left the map while he finished speaking. But a flashing blip brought his finger up to the ghostly surface and commanded the display to zoom over to the indicated position. The icons representing Team RWBY's scrolls were not only within signal range of the city network, but suddenly popping up fifty miles within the city itself as they finished synchronizing with an apparently overloaded local array and updated their status. Their aura levels, that the team's Beacon issued Scrolls monitored as a battle management tool and was available to staff as a supervisory aid in training, were low. In fact Ms. Xiao Long's and Ms. Schnee's auras were practically non-existent. Slowly, painfully recovering and indicating they had already fought hard and with all they had. Most likely taking injuries. Signs of Doctor Oobleck were nowhere the city network could find.

Then to his muted dismay, automated computer icons to all city citizens warning of Grimm intrusion appeared around them. Instructions informing the public to stay away from that area and evacuate into underground shelters.

Professor Ozpin zoomed the map out and manipulated the display further. The icons of an unsupervised Team JNPR, Team CVFY with Professor Port, and a group of visiting Haven students aboard three Bullhead transports were moving across the map directly toward the threat. JNPR was far ahead and would arrive first, but the City of Vale was large. Two hundred miles across at some points if one counted the industrial, agricultural and woodland districts, and home to almost fifteen million people who were starting their day. Spread out across a landscape isolated from the rest of a dangerous world by dense mountain ranges, cliffs, deep water channels and massive walls or other defenses. A natural and expansive citadel that made the Kingdom of Vale and its developed city one of four remaining oases of protection for mankind since early recorded history of bloody conflict with Grimm. But this deep into the city it would take time for any fully trained and equipped defenders to arrive. Meanwhile the monstrous creatures of Grimm would be ravaging, maiming, destroying and killing their way through the city streets.

Professor Ozpin pressed another icon on his oversized Scroll and spoke toward the military face that appeared on the screen. "James?"

"We've already got the alert." The General on the other end spoke urgently. "My reserve gunships are already en route along with the _Morning Star_ , but my main force is out of position." He didn't need to say why.

"Our scouting team appeared on site," Professor Ozpin informed the other, "but they've been fighting for some time already, are currently unsupervised, and the area is overrun. Three more teams are on the way to assist. Everyone else close by will be tied up with evacuation. I know they will do what they can but our scouts won't last long. After that-"

"Understood. No time to set this up by the numbers. We'll deploy fast and dirty."

"James-" Ozpin said warningly. There were already many civilians in the target area in close quarters with monsters impelled to slaughter them. Ordinary people who had simply been opening up their shops or preparing for just another day of employment in Vale.

"Don't worry, Ozpin," General Ironwood said with a smile of reassurance. "My troops are good. We can shoot targets off their backs in a crash dive if we have to."

Professor Ozpin cut the connection and sent instructions to Ms. Goodwitch. Then he turned back to that office window overlooking the City of Vale, the smoke rising into the sky. In the back of his mind, underneath the calm veteran management of an emergency, was the promise he had made to Qrow when he took that unofficial mission to disappear and gather intelligence on who was really behind all that was going on behind the scenes. The hope that the promise to look after his nieces when they earned their place at Beacon hadn't been a lie. Another mistake to be added to an already great collection.

Those girls would protect the people caught in the fighting. The only questions were how and what the cost would be.

The previous generation made up of Team STRQ had already paid heavily. Unlike most student teams after graduation, they had stuck together and even had become a real family.

Regrettably, Qrow Branwen was now a functioning drunk. His sister Raven vanished and had not been seen since giving birth to Yang. Summer Rose had filled the void; helping the family and then becoming part of it. Accepting baby Yang as her own daughter and then giving her a little sister. She had been killed at the edge of a cliff overlooking one of Patch's deep forest valleys; unrecognizable fragments of bones from dozens of Grimm flaking away at the rocky bottom but her own body never recovered. Leaving a cherished adopted daughter and her own toddler Ruby behind with their father.

The strain and loss of history repeating itself, losing his beloved spouse relatively soon after bearing their child _again_ , had left Taiyang Xiao Long with an unhealed spirit for over a decade; in the early days depending on his brother-in-law Qrow to help care for his surviving family. His recovery more focused on the demands of a working single parent than the soul. Self-retired from missions in favor of an island classroom full of children waiting to be taught how to survive.

Team RWBY's mission had clearly gone south. Ozpin would never play favorites, nor shield them, nor jump in to save them. He would put those girls in harm's way just like any other student. Even mortal danger. But danger students worthy of attending Beacon Academy could handle. Let them face perils and grow from the experience. Walk the path that lead to protecting the people of Remnant as Huntsmen and Huntresses. A path that might very well one day cut their own time on Remnant short.

But no teacher worthy of his title would willingly order any student team or even a group of teams to assault an outpost full of hardened terrorists and murderers or face absolutely overwhelming waves of Grimm during a migration. Not if there was any other option.

Professor Ozpin took in a cleansing breath and let it out. Today was just getting started. Best focus on the tasks at hand. Emergency services could end up being swamped as Grimm spread out from the breach, and his students would be needed soon. To establish containment barricades. To track down stray Grimm once the main threat was turned back and eliminate their presence in Vale entirely. To patrol the streets and put the public at ease after Grimm had managed to run rampant through the heart of the city for the first time in two centuries. To help search for people in the upcoming wreckage. To help carry the inevitable wounded. To assist in reuniting separated loved ones.

To help bury what was left of those loved ones if necessary.

* * *

Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, and Blake Belladonna walked tiredly down Beacon Academy's main path followed by their canine shadow Zwei, and past the stone statue of the two unknown hunters that stood before the towered architecture. After Ms. Goodwitch caught up to them at the market plaza and the situation brought under control, she had ordered them back with such a glare that left no doubt as to the inadvisability of such a thing being questioned.

But honestly, they had been fighting and tracking and failing to sleep for two days now. They were sweaty, filthy, dusty, their clothes even a tad greasy from the fight on the dilapidated underground train. Not to mention the train _wreck_ they lived through as it crashed through the long forgotten barrier within Vale's borders. It was past time to stop even though more needed to be done in the cleanup. They had stayed just long enough to reunite with their friends that had come to their aid, let them ensure that they were all still alive and okay, and watch Torchwick get hauled away for hopefully a very long time.

The shuttle had dropped them off at the landing pad but hadn't stayed, leaving them to take a small break at the edge of the tall cliff overlooking Vale. The sky now empty of smoke and wailing sirens, replaced with guardian Airships of both the Atlesian Air Fleet and Vale's Coast Patrol. The long walk down that straight, wide pathway through the cultured fountains and garden lawns of the academy encouraged a small siesta in the midday sun.

After deciding that actual sleep would be the next team activity for the day, the four girls and their dog slowly picked themselves up and made their way down that path that was just _so_ long.

They were quiet most of the way, baring Ruby's idea that the campus needed motorized walkways. Beacon felt almost deserted except for the cheerful tweets of birds, the occasional squirrel and peaceful gurgle of water from a fountain. The girls barely noticed, their eyes only looking toward those wonderful waiting beds up in their dorm. Turning along the curve of the path to the awaiting and somewhat imposing amphitheater doors that lead to other wings of the grand construction, a tall figure wearing a dark subdued green suit over a far more vibrant green turtleneck shirt stood waiting for them.

"Good day, girls," Professor Ozpin greeted them as they approached. He gave them a quick study, and then the tri-colored Corgi following them with its little legs.

Which barked, wagged its tail, and promptly threw up what appeared to be metal bolts as if presenting the Headmaster the spoils of war.

The Professor eyed the pool of bile and lumps of metal at his feet which starkly contrasted with the fine landscaping and décor of the immaculate Beacon campus.

"Zwei!" both Ruby and Yang yelled as Blake subtly sidestepped away as if to separate herself from the group. Weiss merely palmed her eyes.

"Girls. Is that a pet?" Professor Ozpin asked, taking a sip from his ever present coffee mug and completely ignoring the fact that the friendly animal had just regurgitated machine parts.

Ruby spoke for her team. "Uh… would you believe me if I said Zwei was a mutated transfer student?"

Ozpin took another sip from the mug. Ruby's companions groaned.

"How about if we said he was a class project on how to build a dog- yeah that won't work."

Yang, Weiss, Blake and even Zwei were now slowly backing away from their leader.

"I know!" Ruby exclaimed. The short girl waved her hands up before the tall Headmaster and spoke in a mysterious voice. "You do not see a doooooog."

Yang spoke up, pointing a finger at her sister. "Just so you know, Professor. We're not with her."

Zwei barked an agreement.

Ruby put on her best 'stabbed-in-the-back' face. "Traitors!" she scolded the deserters over her shoulder.

Ozpin patiently took yet another sip from his mug, looking down at the five before him.

Weiss stepped forward, unable to bare the insults to human intellect any longer. "Professor Ozpin," she spoke in her formal High Family voice. "Ruby and Yang's father left home for a few days, and sent his dog for us to care for while he was away. It was quite sudden and we didn't have time to do anything about it before our mission departure."

That seemed to draw a reaction from the Headmaster, but the facial expression lasted but a moment. "Ms. Rose, Ms. Xiao Long. Your father left the island?"

Ruby ran her hand through her dark red hair. "I guess so. Our floor is covered with cans of dog food so it might be for a long- Ooh! I hope they didn't go bad."

"Girls, you know the rules. No animals are permitted in the student dorms. No exceptions unless it is legally required by Vale Disabilities-" the Professor recited before he was interrupted.

"But Zwei is doing that!" Yang protested with a light hearted smile. "Weiss here has a terrible case of Silverspoonus Upper-"

"Yang!" Ruby vanished in a swirl of aura manifested rose petals, reappearing instantly from her speed semblance on top of Yang's back, her hands covering Yang's mouth before she could finish the ill-timed jest at Weiss' expense.

Professor Ozpin sighed. His students had performed well despite whatever had gone wrong. Hundreds of lives had been saved and the Grimm contained because they held their ground alone in the maw of the breach. Had held the main concentration of the monster's attention upon themselves instead of the fleeing civilians. Regardless of fatigue, depleted aura strength and Dust munitions, injury, or the great danger to themselves. They held their ground until help arrived and kept on fighting until the breach had been sealed.

Even though Beacon was the most prestigious and renowned training academy in the world of Remnant, Team RWBY had done the school proud before they had even completed their first year.

"I'm sorry, Girls. Rules are rules. However, given that we are all far too busy to deal with such trivial matters as unauthorized animals, I suggest you ask your Headmaster and inquire if he is willing to 'babysit' your father's dog for you. Just move him in with Ms. Goodwitch's horse in the landscaping shed for the time being."

The students before him were too stunned to speak for a moment. Then all spoke at once.

"There is a _horse_ on campus?"

Ozpin took a simple sip from his mug. It was almost time for a refill. "What else would she use in the senior's horseback riding elective? A cow would make no sense, although the milk _would_ be nice."

Weiss had stars and horses in her eyes, then shook her head to focus. However she quickly stopped with a strange expression on her face from the movement. Yang was looking like she was trying to say something, but was too confused to do so. Ruby was looking around for the unseen supply shed and mumbling about how she could convince her team to alter their dorm assignment. Normal behavior for her.

Blake spoke up. "Uh, Professor Ozpin. There is no horse on campus. We all would have smelled it at some point in the past year if there were one."

"Correct. Ms. Rose, you are all just about ready to drop from the looks of it, but I'm afraid I have another task for you as leader of your team. After I confiscate the dog for the time being, of course."

"Aw, Professor!" a tired Ruby protested with slumping shoulders and not knowing how to convince her Headmaster into letting Zwei stay with them without getting expelled by Ms. Goodwitch. "We were _really_ looking forward to sleeping through the next century."

"Very well. All of you hold out your hands."

Confused, the four girls did so. Each of their hands trembled in the air.

The Headmaster looked closely at them one at a time for a few seconds. "Ruby, your team is both exhausted and have so much adrenaline still flooding their system that none of you are able to take proper stock of yourselves. All of you are suffering from significant aura fatigue and cannot even feel it. Both your sister and partner have contusions manifesting themselves and it has gone unnoticed. Not to mention I suspect they are also both suffering from some sort of concussive head injury, judging from their responses just now. So I am requiring you as leader to take your team to the infirmary for a detailed evaluation before you do anything else."

Groans went out from all four girls. The Headmaster looked down at the Corgi.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Zwei barked once sharply.

"There you have it, girls. The dog has spoken. There is nothing more I can do."

* * *

"I feel like I'm wearing a cocktail napkin," Yang complained as she sat on the infirmary bed and plucked at the unflattering hospital gown she wore. "I swear they make these just to settle bets on who is gullible enough to wear one while parading past future employers holding a cup of pee."

Blake sat quietly on her bed with her back to the wall, reading some pamphlet and discreetly hiding the backless part of her own papery gown from her teammate. The ever present black bow decorating her raven hair still performing its duty in hiding her feline ears for the insecure Faunus. "Uh huh," she absentmindedly replied.

The academy infirmary was fairly simple in design but well equipped to deal with various injuries that a student being trained to fight Grimm might face. Defensive use of one's aura and close supervision prevented most real injuries, especially penetrating trauma. But aura use was a skill that required both teaching and practical exercise that could be a bit rough on the student in question. It depleted with use, and could sometimes lead to mental or even physical exhaustion, just like the human body did when running out of breath. Not to mention there were the occasional flu's and colds to keep from spreading and cuts could still lead to infection. Or that aura didn't stop things from happening within the body, such as a brain rattling around inside one's skull during a bad fall.

Common sense stuff, but still something for Blake to read. It helped to keep her inner thoughts from coming forward.

The flimsy curtain to their partition was wide open. Two beds to a partition allowed recovering students some peace and quiet that their teammates and dorms might not provide. Blake had already been quickly examined, checking vitals and other signs. She hadn't taken excessive blows in their battle, so the nurse spent only a couple of minutes with her. However, she knew Weiss had been terribly stunned and unable to function beyond not losing her grip on her rapier, Myrtenaster, for a few minutes at least. She didn't know about Ruby or Yang.

"AAAGH!" came a cry from their leader in the examination room down the hall.

"Oh quiet, you baby!" came Weiss' response from the bathroom at the other end of the hall where she was taking a long time to change out of her less than spring fresh clothes. Probably horrified on a moral level at what she was expected to wear and stalling for time.

"So no one really checked to make sure your sister's booster shots were up to date when she was accepted into Beacon?" Blake asked.

Yang reached around herself, trying to retie the strings behind her loose gown. "Guess so. Ruby's acceptance two years early was kind of at the last minute, and that usually got checked at the beginning of the last year at Signal. Hey, Blake? Can you give me a hand with this? I think someone increased the difficulty level on these strings."

Blake set down her pamphlet on aura and swung her legs off of the bed to attend to her partner. Yang turned her back and pulled her long, blonde and unwashed hair out of the way. Blake stood over the other girl and quietly pulled the strings, adjusting the papery gown to Yang's mature form and adding to her backside's modesty. She glanced at her partner's face while Yang's thankful expression was visible over her shoulder. A bruise seemed to be trying to form just above her eyes and back along toward the left part of her forehead. Aura could help heal and prevent major bruising or shallow cuts fairly quickly, which indicated just how much exhaustion and injury Yang was trying to hide.

"I have to pee!" Ruby's whine echoed through the hall. "I really-really-really do! Honestly- GAA! I helped save the day! I should get a free pass! YANG!"

Blake calmly ignored the commotion generated by their childish leader to focus on her partner. "How are you feeling, Yang? Honestly."

Yang shook her head and slightly grimaced at the motion. "A little dizzy now," she admitted quietly so no one would overhear. "Physically? I got knocked out for the count back there, but after I got back on my feet I felt fine for a while. Just a headache; nothing major. Now something is kicking in so maybe Professor Ozpin was right. But emotionally? Back on that train I couldn't even land one hit on that 'Neo' chick. She took me out and I didn't even put a scratch on her. She was gone when I woke up, but I think I was hallucinating a little for just a second. That part is still a bit fuzzy and I'm kind of catching up. So I guess somewhere between relieved it's finished and angry I can't go for a rematch."

Blake sat on the edge of the bed and turned Yang carefully toward her. "Yang, that is very serious. You have to go next, alright? Don't try to brush this off to the nurse and pretend this is nothing like you and Weiss are doing."

Yang wanted to turn away, so the Faunus girl reached over and pulled her chin to make the blonde brawler face her. "Yang, I mean it. I knew people who figured they could shrug it off and they seemed fine. Then days later slipped into a coma and died because we couldn't smuggle them a hundred miles to a city hospital just to see how bad it really was. They never mentioned anything about hallucinations either. You just did."

Yang looked into those amber eyes of her Faunus partner and the remembered sting hovering within them. Blake rarely spoke of her life before Beacon and growing up among Faunus outlaws. The three times she briefly did revealed only adversity and heartache. But these two recent occurrences revealed a bit of treasured trust and care as sharing _anything_ of her insurgent past must be terribly unnerving for Blake.

The brawler let out a soft chuckle, escaping the grip Blake had on her chin and stretching out on her bed. "Okay, Blakey. I was going to take a nap-"

"No!" Blake scolded. "Don't even joke about this. Not after what you told me about your family. You go to sleep and you might not wake up again. We wouldn't know anything was wrong for _hours_ if you developed an aneurysm or hematoma. Think about Ruby and your father."

"Blake?" Yang asked, sitting herself up on her elbows.

Blake shook her head, her black hair waving in the air. "We already almost lost Weiss today. You were busy already, but there was the Lieutenant I saw back when I infiltrated that rally. I knew of him from… before. Weiss thought she could handle him and she told me to go ahead. So I did. Then when that door closed behind me I heard- he was…just…was _looking forward_ to killing Weiss. As a trophy. He- he wasn't even pretending anymore."

Blake rubbed her tired eyes of accumulated stress. "We had to stop the train, and there wasn't any time to worry about her. I almost reached the engine but Torchwick was there. By the time I got done with him that Lieutenant was throwing Weiss' body into the car like a cat bringing a mouse to its master. He could have finished her off instead and for a moment I thought he had. I was barely able to snatch Weiss and run away."

Blake finally took a deep breath. "Now you tell me- Yang, I'm not like the rest of you. I don't have anyone else. Just you, Ruby and Weiss. Everyone in my past either died or turned into murderous radicals entirely consumed by hate. I know it's only until we graduate, but-"

Yang pulled her partner into a comforting embrace and rubbed her shoulder to let her partner know it would be alright. Ruby sometimes needed the same thing when she was younger and Yang had gotten hurt. Blake may be quiet and reserved most of the time, yet that was because she was deep like an ocean and had been hurt by life too often. Not because she didn't feel much or wasn't truly interested. And like an ocean, when something disturbed those depths it rose up like a tsunami. An internal pressure Blake couldn't control very well.

"You mean a lot to us too, Blake Belladonna." The tough brawler using her 'Mama Yang' voice spoke quietly into the bow on top of her partner's head. "And it won't be just until graduation."

Ruby's voice zoomed down the hall along with the sound of bare footfalls. "Gotta-pee gotta-pee gotta-pee gotta-pee." Which was followed by a door being flung open and a sharp cry of pure outrage from Weiss who apparently was still in the bathroom.

The younger sister blasted into their partition with a burst of red rose petals and a confused look on her face.

Yang laughed and lightly elbowed Blake, encouraging her to let in the lightheartedness of their circumstances and chase off the shadows. "What's the matter, Sis? Get a good look at some high class Schnee butt?"

Ruby completely missed the alleged wittiness of her sister, and the young girl's voice had a confused tone to it from whatever she saw. "Yang, do people normally put makeup on their behind?"

Weiss made her appearance using her angry waltz mode of travel. Her face spoke of pure embarrassment and outrage, right hand clutching behind herself to hold the gown she was wearing closed. The left was holding a partially open compact.

"Oh my gosh, you WERE?" Yang exclaimed. "I knew you Schnee's were vain, but prettying up your butt? Is the nurse a cute guy?"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Weiss shrilled through her teeth, zeroing in on her young leader and apparently suffering from sensory tunnel vision. "Ruby, if you saw anything I will tear apart Crimson Rose, put each piece on a separate Schnee freighter and sink the whole lot into the seven corners of Remnant!"

"But- but- but-" Ruby tried speaking, and that particular word repeated over and over wasn't helping.

Weiss was now beyond a mere mortal's outrage and had Ruby trapped in a corner. Both hands now positioned to reach out and forcibly apply concealer to Ruby's brain. Her back toward the other two teammates. "It's a _birthmark_ ," she hissed violently. "NOT where they cut off a tail. GOT IT?"

Ruby mumbled weakly, trying to merge with the thin partition behind her. "I- I only thought I shouldn't be seeing your bare tushie. Honest."

There was silence for a moment as an irate Weiss breathed heavily down onto Ruby.

"Weiss?" Yang's voice slowly inquired. "Did you say 'tail?' That blotch on your little tailbone there?"

The Heiress slowly turned her head around to face the other two occupants of the partition, blind fury only now clearing. Her face as pale as Death himself in mortification, visible cotton panties not exactly pulled all the way up and allowing the two teammates behind Weiss a peak through the backless gap that made hospital gowns infamous.

The short, squat female nurse in her white uniform appeared in the hallway with a clipboard. "Okay, who's next?"

* * *

"I don't like this," General Ironwood stated flatly.

He stood before the clockwork table that Professor Ozpin sat behind. That the aged man appeared as passive as ever was getting to the military officer more than usual. Of course that appearance was not really the case.

It was dark outside, late evening with Remnant's broken moon just now coming over the horizon. Preliminary reports were still coming in. Huntsmen supported by Vale Security and an infantry company of Atlesian Knight androids continued their sweep of the forgotten train tunnel that had long ago been a lifeline to a besieged Mountain Glen and then had become the world's largest tomb. A tomb that had claimed more lives today as Grimm once again swarmed through them on their way into Vale. Not that anyone was shedding any tears over those fallen henchmen.

Other Huntsmen responding to the urgent recall were securing the breaches further up the line toward Mountain Glen with gunships screening the area. Grimm activity was light as most of those in the immediate vicinity when the event occurred had been wiped out in their morning stampede into the City of Vale. But with tensions among the populous high, Grimm would be attracted to the city boundaries for several days at least. Drawn to the negative emotions until the public's nerves settled down. A trail leading straight into the heart of Vale was completely unacceptable and had to be resealed at _both_ ends before they were forced back and Grimm repopulated the area.

Fortified villages outside on the Kingdom's perimeter would need to be alert and wary. But with their incomparably tiny populations and often located in the eastern mountains while the main Grimm migrations came from the southern passes and northern coastal lands, and not dealing with the cumulative emotional dinner bell of millions finding their city being violated, they had little more to fear than usual from Grimm.

"We're finding _Paladins_ down there in the wreckage with White Fang markings. Sixteen units. A whole Mechanized Armor Company! I had one of my men send Specialist Schnee an update. They may not be on speaking terms, but with the Schnee family name involved with the Paladin line she will pass this on to her father. Heaven help anyone who gets in _his_ way of finding out how _any_ Faunus got their hands on even one. Let alone the White Fang! But this? _Grimm?_ Ozpin, they have to be _insane_."

"Perhaps," the Professor quietly replied as he poured himself a mug of coffee. He offered the other man a refill of its empty companion. It was a long day and going to be a long night. Demonstrating that the public was safe and that answers were forthcoming to keep the populous' well founded fears from becoming unmanageable hysteria took a great deal of deliberation, cooperation and manpower.

Ironwood continued speaking. "This is far too big for us to hush up as an accident, and they have to know the people will absolutely turn on them when they find out. Human and Faunus alike. Even the most sympathetic wouldn't dare support an organization known to lead an entire Grimm horde inside a city to attack a civilian population. They'd be facing lynch mobs if it was ever found out. If the White Fang wanted to shoot themselves in the foot, I can't think of a better way they could have done it."

The General started pacing back and forth across the tower office. Ozpin spoke up finally. "The White Fang cells are certainly a problem. However they are minor pawns and disposable manpower, not key figures. A tempting sacrificial piece for us to focus on while the endgame remains hidden." The aging huntsman and mentor gestured with a hand at the spinning gears that populated his office overhead. "Wheels within wheels, James. That being said, today _was_ a setback and not within their overall timetable."

"No, it wasn't," Ironwood agreed. "Someone clearly jumped the gun and we got lucky all things considered. If this had been during main business hours or heaven forbid during the Vytal Festival while we were out assaulting an empty staging ground-" The man didn't finish the sentence. "But we don't exactly have any worthwhile prisoners to interrogate and pursue this up their chain of command. Torchwick is a fool. Skilled hoodlum, but a fool. The only thing that will come out of his mouth serves to inflate his own ego. A useless dead end to us."

Ozpin grew very quiet.

"What's wrong?" the General asked.

"You saw the last report. A state-of-the-art Mechanized Armor Company and possibly upward of two hundred personnel. My students fought them on a runaway train being pursued by Grimm, and as far as we can tell, the sole survivor to be rescued was Torchwick. We recovered the locomotive's black box. The train was antiquated to begin with, so their underlings either never recognized the old monitoring systems or figured they were no longer functional. We have much of the conflict recorded."

James Ironwood waited for Professor Ozpin to get the rest of the weight off of his chest.

"I haven't seen it yet, but with a Grimm intrusion of this nature the council will demand answers and the investigation will have to go over every tiny detail. Those four girls will have to be debriefed on what they've been doing this past year and explain the footage. This whole operation went wrong on both sides, and besides Torchwick they are the only witnesses from start to finish. They may have to watch themselves send their opponents off that train and into the oncoming Grimm."

The General nodded in empathy. "Maybe. Maybe not. A verbal account will probably be good enough… take some of the strain off-"

Ozpin waved him silent. "You don't understand. Doctor Oobleck already gave me a summary. What disturbs me is that those girls were _there_. The leader, Ms. Rose was with Oobleck most of the time as their rearguard. By the time Ms. Rose rejoined her team, only two of your hijacked Paladins were left. Out of _two hundred people_. She was there and _had_ to finish them directly or see them fall into the path of the Grimm."

The Professor clasped his hands over his desk and intertwined his fingers. "The concern is they saw Torchwick alone being arrested and loaded onto a single shuttle, yet the entire team is absolutely _convinced_ that those people in the tunnels were somehow recovered and taken into custody. That they weren't killed in that bottleneck as the Grimm passed through.

"It was only supposed to be a disguised reconnoiter. It went sideways and they performed _astoundingly_. Doctor Oobleck says they made every correct move and decision, and then kept going to save hundreds of lives. But Ms. Rose? She alone had a hand in the death of perhaps a hundred people by the time most girls finish breakfast. You saw what an innocent spirit she is. They are in denial and we are going to have to pull the truth out of them.

"James, you just discussed how people will feel about the White Fang's failure to unleash Grimm onto others. Hardened terrorists and criminals practically feeding people to the waiting Grimm. And you are quite right. But how will they feel when those four girls realize they _succeeded_ in doing the exact same thing to those terrorists and criminals? Things we would call monstrous and depraved if committed by the other side?"

Ironwood just stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say. As both General of the Atlesian Armed Forces and Headmaster of Atlas Military Academy, he understood. He had young students under his care as well. The complications of navigating such ethical and philosophical dilemmas couldn't be covered in just a first-year curriculum. Not without turning their young students into psychopathic killing machines with no conscience.

Doing what needed to be done in the heat of battle because there was no other choice with civilian lives at stake, and processing it afterward when a person had time to digest what had happened were two very different beasts to prepare a upcoming Huntsman to face. Even veteran Huntsmen could struggle with a mission gone wrong.

The man sighed, not wanting to burden his friend and mentor any further. Nor get into another endless debate over Atlas' technological focus on unmanned combat units and military androids (actual killing machines according to some) to protect the people. "Oz, I didn't want to bring this up before all the evidence was sorted, but I did see the footage. At least the end of it. One of my on-scene analysts brought it to my attention since I put a gag order on the forensics already. I said I'd let you deal with it since it's your jurisdiction. But it is relevant."

Professor Ozpin motioned for him to continue.

"The one who subdued Torchwick, the black haired one with the bow?"

"Ah, yes. Ms. Belladonna. I wasn't aware she had apprehended the criminal."

"That particular car was the Dust bunker leading to the locomotive. High security, so we have everything that took place inside. He had a few things to say to her. Mind game stuff. Nothing explicit, but he was definitely implying some things. She didn't deny anything even though it was just the two of them."

Ironwood paused for a moment before continuing. "Torchwick recognized her at their rally. A _White Fang_ rally. _The_ rally. Singular. We've had volunteers try for _months_ and get little 'need-to-know' Intel. A few just disappeared, and your Ms. Belladonna makes a beeline in there and manages to get a rough location of a major staging area for a critical operation like this? He implied that she was one of them and she didn't deny it. _That_ is how Ms. Rose knew where the base was."

Professor Ozpin simply nodded. "Yes, I can see how that _could_ be the case. However, I take it she did not admit to anything either."

The General held up his hand. "I'm not saying she is an infiltrator, a collaborator, not even simply coerced. More than one have deserted since they radicalized and she is very young, Oz. Now, Ms. Rose couldn't identify the suspect she witnessed in the CCTS, and that girl is such a bad liar I know she wasn't covering for anyone. Belladonna saved Ms. Schnee's life from a White Fang Lieutenant's grasp when she could have walked away with no living witnesses. She fought _hard._ Angry even. But Ms. Belladonna _is_ familiar with the White Fang. Far more than someone her age should be."

The Headmaster nodded. "Perhaps. But you are not mentioning the most important thing. If Ms. Belladonna indeed was the one to uncover the base's location at a supposed White Fang rally, then she informed her _human_ team about it. And neither Ms. Rose nor any of the others _including_ Ms. Schnee, whose family name is almost synonymous with racism and unbridled hatred for the White Fang, _ever_ disclosed anything of the kind. They all must know something and have been trying to be honorable huntresses while safeguarding their comrade. From us. From their classmates. From criminals, from their families, from _everyone._ Not to mention Ms. Belladonna must trust them enough to open up about it. Heaven knows I've tried to get her to open up about _just being a Faunus_... if anyone pushes too hard we could lose her. Scared people run too, James. Not just the guilty."

Ironwood ran his hand through his short black hair. "This is not going to be easy to get them to talk without risking some kind of lasting damage. But we can't just let this go. People need answers." The General contemplated for a moment with a tired sigh. "I would suggest close and trusted people to handle the debriefing on the girls' home turf. Encourage them to feel safe and with people who are on their side. Family like Qrow-"

"I concur, James. But Qrow is out of touch and I have the suspicion that he dragged Taiyang into whatever he is pursuing. Ms. Belladonna has no family. Schwarzwald survivor."

The General winced in sympathy, then a thought came to him. _But that would mean- A Schnee and a Belladonna survivor fighting together?_ That would explain why the girl was familiar with the White Fang. How the team had pieced together Torchwich, the White Fang and the Dust robberies. Why Professor Ozpin, curse him and his wheels-within-wheels brain, didn't seem fazed by any of this regarding his students. Surprised perhaps, but not fazed. The man always had some discreet piece of insight up both sleeves, his pockets, and probably his socks too. Not to mention the gall to put together an otherwise insane combination and turn it into a potentially invaluable asset _and_ potentially start riots at the same time.

"Right. I should contact Specialist Schnee myself anyway. Courtesy call to let her know how her sister is doing. Maybe feel her out. I'd hate to use her. She's a good soldier but too much Drill Instructor and not enough human being. However, she knows a thing or two about burdens. Poor girl practically spent the first week of Military School in detox."

* * *

There was a knock on the door. Weiss turned her eyes as she lay on the hospital bed, her head elevated by the motorized contour design and the girl's customary off-center ponytail draped over her shoulder. Her silver tiara in safe keeping back at Beacon. The proud girl still wore the horrible patient garb and cursing the neck brace she wore. Stupid 'precautions.' Then there was the IV running into her arm that was dripping muscle relaxants and mild neuro-stimulants into her veins. Encouraging her muscles to rest and helping her mind to remain awake despite the alluring desire for sweet, blissful sleep.

The room was almost as dark within as it was outside with the beeping monitoring devices above her head offering some dim illumination. She considered telling whoever it was to leave her be. Waiting for her exam back at the Beacon Academy infirmary and Ruby's intrusion was bad enough. Then there was being carried out on a stretcher and strapped in securely for transport, wearing this _thing_. About the only reason it didn't look like a _Schnee_ was being carted away as a mental case was the neck brace and padded helmet she had been forced to wear. That, and Yang being carried out along with her.

That school nurse had nearly panicked over the silly bump on the back of her aching head. Skull deformation indeed! Something like that would have left her comatose at best. Not walking around, dressing herself and then arguing with the clearly incompetent nurse! Then there was calming Ruby down from a completely unnecessary, and thankfully momentary, panic that would have resulted in a smothering if Blake hadn't restrained the team leader.

 _Then_ there was the hospital staff nitpicking about paperwork and insurance. Giving her weird looks when she declared someone of her stature had no need for paltry health insurance; to just charge their expenses to her Schnee credit card and rattling out the numbers from memory. The nerve of her team critiquing her about how this was not a restaurant, that not having insurance was not usually something to brag about, and asking if this was the first time in a public hospital. Granted it was, but still! She was covering both Yang's and her own medical expenses and keeping the stay out of the public limelight. Every member of the High Families knew the vulture-like nature of the dumpster diving and bribing 'journalists' of ill repute and how to use them to publicly disgrace other High Family scions. Surely _Blake_ could understand the need to keep things quiet!

Then there was the probing and prodding, scans of her skull, and the sponge bath of horror. As if she couldn't be trusted to clean herself like the nannies had drilled into her as a small child. Blah blah liability blah blah. The hospital nurse giving an 'oh poor girl' look when the concealer on her wrists was wiped away and clearly visible on the damp white washcloth, the small circular scar on each wrist made apparent. Something for the ignorant to mistakenly connect with the widely known long facial scar that ran past her left eye.

After the shift change the nurse probably went to see if that story was worth anything to the gossip columns. Weiss could see the headlines now. ' _Schnee patriarch punished Heiress with heated fire poker. Could it be true? Hospital nurse discloses what she witnessed!_ ' Of course by the time such a ridiculous thing came to print her family would own those involved in retribution.

Well, at least the concealer on her hindquarters was still in place. ' _Of all the unfortunate places to have a birthmark!'_ the girl thought to herself for about the millionth time in her life. The gossip columns would have a _field day_ with that, and Father would be… upset… at the very least. Weiss didn't really fear that she would get disowned as a liability, given that she was the last body heir her father had within their family. However, the Family Name-

' _Oh, my aching head!'_

The knock on the door repeated itself, followed by Blake's voice.

"Weiss? It's me. Ruby and I got back from Beacon with some necessities for you two. She's with her sister right now. Ruby was… kind of afraid you'd yell at her some more. Plus Yang said they needed some alone time."

Weiss sighed, pushing away negative sentiments. Deep down Ruby was a good kid. Even if she was two years younger than the rest of their classmates and still retained a severely childish disposition. Yang on the other hand would no doubt use the earlier discovery as a jabbing device to annoy her. The uncouth brawler's sense of humor was low-borne and the puns were without mercy on those who had to hear them. But Yang was 'good natured' about it and never used her humor as a weapon. She would never gossip about the birthmark. Blake was probably the safest out of her teammates. The Faunus had real features to hide. Not just something that could be misrepresented in a false scandal. Blake would understand all too well. Not that she socialized much in the first place.

The Heiress smoothed out the sheets covering her and called out to her teammate standing outside. "Come in."

The door cracked open and then widened to let Blake inside, wearing her school uniform and carrying a suitcase plus a shopping bag made of green fabric. Cheap material, but reusable and could be used to tote around those books she kept bringing home.

 _Home. When had the dorm become home?_

"We brought you your nightgown, some spare clothes, your toothbrush, some toiletries, and a few light books. The nurse said you turned your nose up at the hospital food, so I smuggled in a salad and Ruby got you an apology offering of super-duper fudge ice cream. You haven't really eaten much and Ruby insists you need the calories to heal. And before you protest, she's not wrong. Then coffee for us since the nurse says you two can't have any and someone should stay up with you two. Oh, and Teams Juniper and Coffee sends their best wishes since visiting hours are over."

Blake eyed the IV held on the stand next to Weiss' bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, as if unsure if the other girl would find it acceptable or an intrusion. One could never tell if they would be asking Weiss or her 'Ice Queen' persona.

"Like my body is getting the sleep I want and my brain forced to watch," Weiss grumpily answered. Then she let out a sigh and spoke _slightly_ more softly. "But the pain relievers help. Two bruised ribs and a mild concussion. _Maybe_ some mild whiplash. Not _too_ much to worry about but doctors are a bit paranoid about getting sued. Nevertheless they want my nervous system to heal naturally before I use my aura again. Which I get. But it means overnight observation, a week of mental rest and no training for three weeks. We had _better_ get that extra credit for today because my grades are _not_ going to suffer because of this."

Weiss pulled the hospital sheets away and swung her legs out of the bed. She grabbed the wheeled IV stand with one hand, then looked at Blake standing there in the darkened entryway. "Can you hand me my pajamas and walk me into the bathroom? I really _hate_ this gown."

Blake answered by setting down the bag containing packages of food and what looked like four tall cups of coffee, then opened up the suitcase to retrieve Weiss' simple cotton nightgown. She walked over to help the injured teammate on her feet and guided the girl over to the side door leading to the toilet. Ready to catch the white-haired girl if her relaxed leg muscles caused her to stumble.

Weiss disappeared inside along with her clothing and the IV unit, clutching the hand rails mounted on the walls with one hand and closing the door.

Blake stood next to the locked entry, waiting to help the Heiress back to her bed. Basic combat first aid class covered what to do for common wounds that would stabilize a comrade until help arrived. It also covered what to never allow for other injuries. Number one was to not use aura to force heal a suspected brain injury. Despite scientific advances and knowledge, the brain was still quite mysterious. Especially as the central nervous system generated and manipulated aura, the manifestation of one's soul. Without aura, and especially Dust activated by aura and acquiring nearly magical appearing displays, a Huntsman was crippled. Unable to use it as a shield to diminish or deflect blows, claws, spikes and bullets. Softening impacts from being thrown, dropped or smashed. Amplifying jumps, kicks and punches. Heal minor injuries and the strain of combat to allow the body to keep fighting. Let alone the more spectacular semblances that were unique to each individual.

Conscious aura use did wonders on the macro scale over time and depending on ability, but didn't work well on a microscopic level. One could force heal a general wound because the body already knew how to perform the task. The flesh could absorb the stress of forcefully accelerated cellular growth to a certain degree, but an aura user could not selectively and purposefully repair individual blood vessels or specific nerve endings. The brain was infinitely more complex, with distinct neurons forming tens of thousands of unique connections to other neurons. That didn't even take into consideration what happened _inside_ those neurons or how they formed awareness. Sentience. Personality. Memory. Reasoning. Everything that defined a person. Made them what they were. How they manifested that soul with aura.

Forced healing with aura on such an immensely complex structure would be like using a wrecking ball to nail down loose shingles on a house. Only negative outcomes could be the result.

Weiss' voice echoed out of the bathroom. "How are Ruby and Yang doing?"

Blake didn't speak for a minute. They had all taken spills and tumbles. A few bumped noggins. This time, however, the fight on the train and the breach into Vale had been different.

"Yang… she's worse off. Repeated concussions. They are worried about complications. If there are they most likely will have to resort to surgery. They say they will know more after forty-eight hours. The hospital has been trying to contact their father or uncle, but so far nothing. Ruby is toughing it, but she needs to be with her sister right now."

"What about their mother?" Weiss asked as she changed behind the closed door. "Ruby talked about her a little bit."

Blake paused for several long moments.

"Blake?"

The Faunus took a deep breath and let it out before she spoke. "Yang's birth-mother… Well, she abandoned Yang and her father. I'm not even sure she went home after Yang's birth. She just vanished and they haven't seen or heard from her since. Summer stepped in that day to help raise Yang, even became a real mom to her. Then they had Ruby. She was killed during a mission when they were very young. I guess Ruby was only two or three at the time."

"Oh." Weiss didn't know what else to say. The sisters didn't speak much of the woman who had a share in raising them. Only rarely and mostly of things Ruby treasured. Even if they had spoken in the past tense, the way they spoke was as if she was still alive. They had never shared many details, but given what Blake had just told her it was not surprising.

Blake spoke toward the closed door again. "Weiss. Ruby is going to need our support for a while. Yang isn't just a sister to her. She once told me that after Summer died their father… had difficulties with his grief. Yang had to fill in for Ruby's mom and it didn't sound like she ever stopped. I think they've had a mother/sister relationship for almost Ruby's entire life. They need to be… close right now. Ruby might start to blame herself. Especially if something happens."

Weiss opened the door, now properly clothed in her plain bluish cotton nightgown. Her snow-white hair simply falling straight down her back rather than the daytime's asymmetrical ponytail with its silver tiara. The girl's only habitual departure from her fancily tailored clothes and crafted appearance during waking hours. Bedtime was the only occasion Weiss looked like an average girl. At least until she opened her mouth.

Blake reached out an arm to guide the Heiress back to her bed. Weiss simply nodded her understanding about their younger leader, then let herself be led across the room.

Once she settled herself onto the mass produced mattress and pulled the sheets back over herself, Weiss raised the bed with the remote further up into its full sitting position. Blake pulled a tray over the bed and set the packaged salad, small ice cream container, and a plastic Spork out for her.

"I'll turn the lights on so you can eat," Blake stated.

"Don't." Weiss brashly commanded, then brought her voice back down to a normal tone. "Apologies, Blake." A former White Fang member wouldn't take kindly to being mandated by a High Family scion. Let alone a Schnee scion whom she was making an effort to help. "My vision has become a little blurry and the light makes my head hurt a lot more. The monitors provide enough, and my night vision has adjusted by now so I can manage."

Blake nodded. The Faunus quietly stepped over to a chair in the dark corner, bringing out her four coffees and a book.

Weiss started on the salad first, being the sensible and refined thing to do. After that she opened up the ice cream, taking properly small samples. Both for her distinguished manners and to prevent brain freeze, which was about the last thing she wanted. Blake read her book in the even dimmer corner using her Faunus night vision and started on her first coffee. Then her second tall cup.

Weiss was about halfway through the container of sinfully good dessert before either of them spoke again.

"It's not like I don't care about Ruby and Yang," the Heiress spoke unexpectedly and defensively. "I am just not versed in conveying… certain things like they can."

Blake turned a page. "We know, Weiss. You don't have to for us to know. You show it in your own way."

There was several more minutes of silence as the Heiress neared the bottom of the chocolaty guilt offering provided by her leader.

Weiss leaned back against the tilted mattress. Careful to lightly rest into the pillow and minding the bump on the back of her head or starting another wave of dizziness that had increased in the hours after her… injury.

"Blake, I never thanked you. For saving my life today. I was barely conscious and I don't remember much. Just the sound of that chainsaw as it came closer. The footsteps. Then someone pulling me away. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have just been killed in a fight. I would have been murdered. A dreadful one at that."

The Faunus didn't say anything for a few moments. Unsure of how to respond without revealing too much. "That's how I grew up," she said cryptically.

Weiss continued. "You're still here too, instead of with your partner."

"Ruby needs to be with Yang, and you should have someone to make sure you stay awake too. We're a team." Blake lowered her voice. "Plus Yang reminded me how I can get all…"

"Blakey?" Weiss filled in the pause with the nicknamed phenomenon. Blake didn't just become moody. When she had the sense that something was terribly wrong about something she cared about, the introverted girl could obsess and stew within her own need to do something when there was nothing that _could_ be done. Neglecting her own needs in a futile emotional quest for a rational answer that just wasn't available.

The Faunus girl scowled, having to put up with that nickname for herself more than she wished to. "Yes. That."

Weiss just nodded, looking up at the boring ceiling. Listening to the beeps of the monitors and the slight humming of the air vent in the ceiling.

"Thank you for the Dust rounds you gave me. They were very useful."

Weiss looked back at her teammate. "It was nothing. Just a little something for Gambol Shroud."

Blake set her book aside. Every Huntress' weapon was customized and unique. Often made by and becoming an extension of the person wielding it. Her personal weapon was part Katana with a semi-automatic pistol action hilt, its sheath doubling as a heavier cleaver blade that could simply add mass for splitting blows or be duel wielded. A far departure from Weiss' multi-action Dust Rapier and its rotating dust cylinders to charge its blade to generate various effects and abilities.

"Custom designed rounds made of a variety of atomized contact reactant dusts shaped with a G-shock resistant binder, jacketed in dust inert non-penetration casings, and shaped to the _exact_ caliber of someone else's weapon? Probably forged by a master weaponsmith, knowing you. But it wasn't the bullets. You really went out of your way in secret to have those made for me. Something special. Something without words that said you accepted me. Despite my being a Faunus. Despite my past. Despite the things you probably imagined I must have done."

The Faunus paused for a moment. "That I'm your friend. Even if we are more like silent Ren than expressive Nora."

Weiss was silent. Her body tense. Or at least trying to be tense given the medication she was on. But there was fire in her now far less fatigued and wintery blue eyes.

"We are _NOT_ friends."

Blake could only stare at the Heiress. She had made a very bad mistake. Assumed too much.

Weiss sat up straight, her back lifting off the elevated mattress as she warmed up into her tirade. "You know what a _friend_ is, Blake? A _friend_ is someone who goes to your birthday party, not because out of fondness or because they care, but because attending a Schnee social will enhance their public standing. Maybe as a bonus the birthday girl will do something embarrassing that they can spread around the next day. To tear you down so they can be elevated. That don't care that you've attended memorials of family associates so many times you don't feel anything anymore. Yet, always wondering who is going to be next. A _friend_ is someone who goes through the motions to have their name associated with a Schnee in order to gain access to fancier venues and exclusive events. Who see you as nothing more than a stepladder in their game of climbing the social hierarchy. A _friend_ is someone who tries to get close to you to accept your secrets and sell you out to the media the first chance they get. A friend is someone who decides the risk of kidnapping, assault or even death is worth the money, prestige or power they hope to gain for their own family and wouldn't mind seeing yours tumble from their position at the top.

"As the highest of the High Families, you must be perfect or they will broadcast your flaws for the whole world to see in order to advance their family and personal status above yours. Perhaps even out of simple boredom. Nonetheless you _have_ to go through the motions too. Because perfect expectation, perfect appearances and the outward impression of social responsibility define every aspect of your family at the top of the social food chain. That is how you _survive_. Anything less than perfection is a threat. Weakness an opportunity for friends to ruin you. Those are my _friends._ Enemies are even worse because at least those human friends have _some_ morals and wouldn't cut a child's throat in her sleep just like they nearly eviscerated my sister. She was just a child too-"

Weiss cut herself off from the loss of control. Sleep deprivation and bruised neural tissue that could temporarily impair cognition, instigate depression or mood swings, and fed by reminders of real childhood fears and anxieties of the past were no excuse. Yet she had also been the most vulnerable a human being could find themselves; helpless at a murderous brute's feet who relished at completing the task. Snatched away from fate by the girl next to her. Unlike everything Weiss had been taught or feared in the past, Blake was the opposite of all that.

The girl to which Weiss owed her very life was still here, next to her bed. A warden keeping her safe by being there in case a nurse had to be called in right away, while Blake forfeited needed sleep as well. Surely it was permissible…

The adolescent stared indignantly into her lap, hands folded properly below her torso. "None of you are anything like those _friends_. You are my-" She sniffed the anger away. "-teammates."

Blake nodded an acceptance. Weiss' definition and perception of the term 'friend' could very well be incredibly warped. It was almost a title inciting wariness that had nothing to do with an actual relationship. 'Teammate' was the closest and most trusted relationship the Heiress probably had other than her sister. One Weiss had learned only after coming to Beacon Academy. She probably had to invent her own labels and definitions to compensate under that kind of continuous pressure as a child and then experiencing an entirely different culture upon arriving at Beacon. One where even rivals learned to trust each other with their very lives.

Weiss forced herself back into her composed self, but Blake caught on to it. Everyone knew the outward appearance that the "Ice Queen" wore. Yet underneath that was something else. Something the Schnee Heiress slowly revealed to her team in their training bouts and the past encounters with adversaries.

Yang was a fairly selfish fighter, often losing herself in her own emotions and using them to fuel her attacks. Getting up close and hammering away at opponents with her fists and shot gauntlets. Focused on bashing down the foe until someone lay on the ground.

Ruby was just downright frightening if Grimm were involved, exposing a dual nature of the sweet, innocent, childlike adolescent. She became the Reaper of Grimm, or perhaps even an Anti-Grimm if there ever was such a thing. Exterminator of any living thing lacking a soul, slicing up entire packs of Beowolves with that scythe in a style that could only be labeled as 'industrial.' Like a lawnmower happily plowing through a tomato patch while wearing that warm yet determined smile. But unlike most people, Ruby didn't do it out of hate, or fear, past tragedy or obligation as a Huntress. Not for the thrill, the rush, or excitement. Deep down Ruby serenely slaughtered Grimm out of love. Love of family. Love of friends. Love of strangers she'd never meet.

But Weiss? Weiss was the supportive one. Using her aura and semblance glyphs to support her team while simultaneously using agility and fencing skill against her own foes to stab or parry. Those ghostly symbols of her glyphs lighting up in the air or on the ground to push them out of danger, lend a platform to launch themselves off, or add aura qualities to their projectile strikes on their opponents.

In fact despite the Heiress' earlier firm prejudices against anything Faunus, and White Fang in particular, Blake herself was probably the one whom Weiss pulled out of harm's way the most using those glyphs. Probably because Blake's inner need to put a stop to the White Fang's plan, and the corruption of the only 'family' she had known for most of her life, had made her more belligerent in these past few confrontations. Nor had Weiss ever sat out of her team in all the times she had insisted that they were not ready for what they were tackling. Not even when she disagreed with the rest of the group in other less refined mischief. The 'Ice Queen' kept a lot hidden, and her rant had given a rare glimpse of why.

Blake found herself looking down into her lap as well. She had been one of those enemies of the Schnee family. Had played a part in adding to Weiss' burdened, if privileged, childhood. The Heiress' rant had exposed more of a glimpse into what her upbringing was like. Growing up in the White Fang, Blake probably had experienced more care and concern than Weiss ever did.

"I'm sorry," Blake truthfully spoke. "About your sister. Is she-"

The Faunus lifted her head to see Weiss nod her own in acceptance as she softened her expression.

"Winter is fine, thank you for your concern. I also know you had nothing do with it, Blake. It happened before either of us were born. My family never spoke of it, but one day I saw the scar across Winter's belly when she was reaching for one of my toys. I overheard a servant tell one of the maids that some Faunus got to her when she was a few years younger than Ruby is now. She had her problems afterward though; angered Father even more than he usually was with her 'unsuitableness.' Enough that my sister was finally sent to the Atlas Military Academy to straighten her out. Of course I don't think Father expected Winter to take to it so well and renounce- Well, never mind."

There was several moments of quiet as Weiss reassessed the last few minutes. This was just not acceptable.

"Now it's your turn, Belladonna," Weiss told the Faunus with authority. "You never talk about _your_ family or where you came from. In fact other than being part of… you know… you've never said _anything._ That will not stand!"

Blake grew visibly timid, now staring at the third cup of coffee she was about to sip. She didn't say anything for a while.

"They all- I don't want to talk about it."

"Blake?" Weiss asked, _trying_ to speak softly but failing miserably. "You remember back in Mountain Glenn when we were talking? You were upset about how you always run away. So stop it. Plus if you sit there silent I will get bored and fall asleep. If I lapse into a coma I'm blaming you."

Blake didn't seem to be going for it, even with the attempt at being somewhat humorous. Weiss tried to sweeten the deal. "I'll even let you brush my hair."

The Faunus just looked at the Heiress with narrowed eyes as if the Heiress thought serving her was a privilege.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that!" Weiss complained. "I'll have you know my sister never allowed _anyone_ to brush my hair. Even my closest nanny would have been fired immediately!" The girl dropped her tone into something much softer. "Winter was a lot older than I was, so we were in very different phases of our lives. Plus we were often busy with the tutors Father hired for us and the nannies caring for me. But that was one of our special times my elder sister set aside for solely for us. At least until she was sent away to the academy. No one else has brushed my hair since."

Blake sighed, then nodded. The earlier attempt of a jest making it a little easier. Weiss Schnee was a shrewd negotiator, and Blake couldn't refuse without appearing to be a jerk in rejecting an offered olive branch. No doubt another trait the girl picked up during all those social maneuverings in her early youth. Plus the girl _was_ trying to improve in letting down that 'Ice Queen' image she habitually wore like a second skin.

She put her third cup of coffee down next to her book and climbed out of her chair in the corner. She walked the few steps over to the suitcase sitting at the foot of Weiss' bed.

"Is my brush okay? We know how you are about Ruby and Yang going through your things, so I didn't go digging around."

Weiss wasn't about to let herself be defeated by such a gambit of the wrong brush being conveniently the only one available. "That will be fine, Blake."

Blake recovered the hairbrush and found Weiss sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked as nervous as Blake felt. She hadn't been kidding when she had said no one else had ever brushed her hair and that it was reserved for her sister. For Weiss it was almost a bonding ritual as it was a treasured childhood memory she didn't want tainted by something less special.

The Faunus sat into the space provided by the other girl, who had turned her head to allow access to the white flowing strands. Blake carefully began with a few strokes of the hairbrush, running her hand along with the instrument to smooth it along.

 _Blake Belladonna, it's time to stop running,_ she told herself.

It was perhaps another dozen strokes or more, lost in thought, before Blake had the courage to speak.

"I never met my parents. I was left with my grandparents in a company town for Faunus workers. Back before they were outlawed."

Weiss nodded. Company towns were a remnant from Great-Grandfather's time running the Schnee Dust Company and had been abysmally slow to be phased out. Many other corporations practiced this as well before being publicized and banned by the Kingdoms. Some were model business investments close to the borders and often populated by skilled humans. However, too often the isolated prospecting camps far outside the Kingdoms had been something else for Faunus laborers. Minimal investment was 'a sound business decision' for merely investigating resource potential that might not exist.

Pay for unskilled labor was kept low and isolated workers were forced to buy all their necessities from the company store at exorbitant prices. Travel into an isolated work camp was done on credit; travel back to the city unaffordable in any practical sense, and requiring debts to be repaid with interest. Always with stated reasons due to problems related to their isolated location and the hazards of Grimm. Which led to Faunus smugglers who ran the high risks of land travel through the mountain passes, sneaking in supplies and impoverished souls out. They became isolated populations under the emotional toll of oppression. Despair, anger, frustration. Attractive to Grimm.

But security was always a priority. Huntsmen patrolled the outskirts and such towns that discovered valuable resources such as minerals or dust deposits became affluent villages. Even fortified towns. Those that didn't were relocated to try again elsewhere.

"My grandparents once told me my father died before I was born. He left as a teenager with the smugglers to try for a better life. I suppose he never made it. They only saw my mother once. The day she left me with them. It was the middle of the night. She didn't come inside and wore a poncho to cover herself, so they never really saw her. Only enough to see she was barely more than a child herself. Too young to raise a newborn. How could she in that kind of place? My grandparents always told me she was going to come back for me when she was able. Each year my mother left a birthday gift in the shrubs next to our door for me to find."

Blake's tone had been almost happy. "It wasn't bad. My grandfather helped with the timber harvesting and could hunt game as well. He was able to bring in food to sell to other Faunus, helping them save Lien to pay their debts. My Grandmother served our community as an herbalist. Our foreman was one of the 'mean humans' and tried pulling surprise inspections to catch us with smuggled contraband. He wasn't, you know, awful. But it happened a lot. Anyway, I had a few toys to play with. Books from the company store that my grandmother used to teach me to read with. But I never knew anything else other than that little world."

Then Blake's tone went unnaturally flat and neutral. Matter-of-fact and devoid of emotion.

"I was six years old when the Schwarzwald Work Camp was hit by a freak migration of Grimm. One of maybe four dozen children trapped in a collapsed shelter for seven days. Freezing, barely alive, not realizing we were dying of thirst. Too small and afraid to dig our way out. First by the Grimm outside, then by the cave-in from the bombings."

Weiss tried to mask the intake of breath at the name of the world famous disaster. Schwarzwald, or 'Black Forest,' had been a massacre waiting to happen. Uninterested home office administrators pushing subsidiary project managers to uphold contradictory priorities and skimping everywhere possible. Located opposite of the Kingdom of Vale on the eastern coast to form a temporary supply port for local prospecting expeditions that regularly found nothing. Small ocean freighters bringing in supplies perhaps twice a year and lumber Atlas needed out, but the geography and layout leaving the company town with their backs to the sea. Isolated not just by long distance, but also the same dense mountain ranges that protected Vale from the annual Grimm migrations coming in from the southern hemisphere.

Rotating Huntsmen patrolling the thick forested outskirts normally would have been enough, and had been for over several years. However, one evening three thousand Faunus workers and a hundred Human supervisors faced what Huntsmen called a 'freak migration.' Not just several packs or groups of Grimm moving along the foothills as they migrated from one territory to another, but perhaps hundreds, even a thousand or more of those black creatures in a dense stampede for no apparent reason. None had any warning that the monsters were coming.

Embedded journalists riding along with the military had captured the aftermath days later during cleansing strikes to deal with the monsters. Airships dropping three ton dust-air bombs made of fire, ice and lightning dust into heavily forested valleys sloping down toward the town before the overwhelming throngs of Grimm could keep going and hit villages in the tight mountain passes leading to Vale. Security footage had been recovered amid the flattened and charred ruins and quickly leaked to the press.

Three thousand unskilled Faunus laborers, armed with simple forestry tools with no escape route, wiped out in nine ungodly minutes as they tried hold off the tsunami of Grimm already flowing over the timber walls in the vain hope that some of their loved ones and the few children in camp might have time to flee inside the inadequate shelter or find a haven within storerooms and attics. Rough timber warehouses set ablaze by humans to form an intense fiery moat to save the single subterranean brickwork shelter in the center of the apocalypse.

The disaster had been publicized with the Vale council proceeding to a public inquiry against the foreign corporations; the media blitzed by Faunus protests outside going nearly berserk over their martyrs demanding an end to the 'Bait Towns.' The Schwarzwald Massacre was the direct cause of company towns _finally_ being outlawed throughout Remnant, and a major victory for the Faunus rights movement.

Worse, the Schwarzwald Camp had been a site under contract to the Schnee Dust Company. A powerful lesson Weiss' father had learned in managers leaving the Company open to liability, bad press, and the costs of damage control. Lessons he had passed on to his Heir. Dryly presented, tainted by stern prejudice and dogmatic beliefs. Buried along with the myriad of other necessary tidbits she had to learn as the Schnee Heiress. But her experience at Beacon had shed new light into view.

Weiss was speechless. She knew Blake had underwent trials, but- and- everyone-

And Blake still was brushing her hair. The hair of the Heiress to the company responsible.

Blake continued. "I was little, and it happened so fast that I don't remember much. Mostly being scared. But the people who dug us out were smugglers, Faunus Activists, who arrived after the bombing and started looking for survivors. They only found us children, and we were evacuated by wagon three hundred miles to Vale. They had to keep me because an orphanage was a good way for me to wind up with a human farmer who figured adopting a Faunus kid to work was cheaper than paying a farmhand."

Weiss finally found her voice. "So you never really sought out the… you know." Neither of them wanted to mention Blake being connected to certain terrorists in a public building.

Blake shook her head. "No. They were the ones who looked after me. Especially my mentor, Adam. I guess he became sort of an image that I pictured my father might have been. He taught me to fight, provided me with books, an education despite living outside the kingdom. Protected me during the protests when police turned fire hoses on us or just started swinging clubs and saying 'the animals' started it. He became the closest thing I had to a family for most of my life. He and a few trusted others."

Blake paused in her brushing. "I know you hate them, Weiss. I don't blame you. But it pains me, you know? Seeing what those people who once rescued both Human and Faunus orphans, who took me in as a child even though no one person had enough to spare, have turned in to. How callous and hateful and heartless and _malicious_ they have become? Not only that, but today I betrayed them all to protect innocent people. To stop a conspiracy we still don't have answers to."

The girl resumed her brushing, carefully and calmly. Weiss couldn't understand it.

"Blake? Don't you have anyone left? Distant relatives? Cousins? _People_?"

"No. Other than Ruby, Yang, and yourself I don't have anyone."

"With all that, losing your _entire family_ , how can you _not_ hate me? How can you _include_ me? After all my family has done to you-"

"I've done things too, Weiss." Normal emotion was coming back into Blake's voice. "I have hated. I have fought. Just because I believed hurting innocent people was wrong didn't mean I never hurt anyone."

Blake kept up the brushing. "You want to know why I say people are 'misguided' instead of… the awful things they believe? Because that day when the Grimm came that lousy foreman grabbed me. He carried me over his shoulder and ran to that shelter, telling me mommy asked him to make sure I was safe. Then he threw me inside the shelter and sealed it behind me. He died wielding the door shut so the Grimm couldn't get in. He hated Faunus, caused us nothing but trouble and enforced our difficult conditions. Harassed us about stupid things. But when the time came it didn't matter that he was Human and I was a Faunus. I was a child he could save and he died making sure I had a chance. Let me know my mother had loved me.

"I know that fairy tales are just that. Stories. Fantasy. I know how the world really works. I am not like Ruby, and I hope she never becomes like me."

Blake had started near the ends of Weiss' long hair and had been working her way up. Now her ministrations were nearing the other girl's neck and head. She began to slow down, taking extra care not to aggravate the very sensitive bump on the back of Weiss' head.

"Weiss. Can you tell me about the train?"

Weiss turned her head slightly to get a look at Blake. "What do you mean? You were there today."

Blake shook her head. "No. Back when you learned I was a Faunus. You were ranting about the things the Faunus had done to your family. About being at war. Bloodshed. People going missing. Then you mentioned a train. Like it was one of the worst things to include along with kidnappings and murders."

Weiss didn't speak.

"Please. The train today brought up a lot of things I'd rather not think about."

Weiss sighed. What did she have that could compare with what Blake had related? She was a spoiled rich girl by comparison as well as in reality. But Blake also included her in the only three people she had in the whole world, and what had she done to earn that? Not cling to the anti-Faunus prejudice of her father and try to improve herself? Not hold being raised in a revolting organization against Blake when she had the courage to leave it and apply herself to becoming a noble huntress? For striving to be the best teammate in the school because a Schnee was _supposed_ to better? What had she done for Blake _as a person_ to deserve this?

"While you think about it, I'll turn the bed lamp on. I want to be careful around your head. So close your eyes for a minute."

The Heiress did so. She felt Blake rise and a light blinked on through her eyelids. Weiss cracked her lids open, letting her eyesight readjust as Blake resumed her position.

The Faunus started speaking in a painful whisper. "My partner is hurt and it could become worse. She actually asked me to take care of Ruby in the off chance that something happens. You were almost killed. When I pulled you out of there, that Lieutenant could recognize me. He knew who I was, that I wasn't on a secret assignment but was fighting against the White Fang. Siding with a Schnee. 'A traitor to The Cause.' If he's alive he will either tell the authorities who I am or get word back to the others. Weiss, I am trying really hard not to go to a dark place right now, deep down hoping he's dead and that I won't be discovered. This is helping."

Weiss took this in. That Blake has been _recognized_ when she had saved her. It never occurred to her that it could happen. If the White Fang hated the Schnee's with a blood feud's passion, they would loathe Blake Belladonna even more. The only family she had known growing up, who had practically dug her out of a grave as a child and then took her in so she would be protected from exploiters. Now a traitor siding with their blood enemy? They would want to make a very, very ugly example out of her teammate.

Weiss thought back on her own struggles with her father. The covering up of marks that no one knew about, stuck in the need to maintain appearances like she was taught. She suddenly felt very much like a coward. Blake carried much inside and tried to keep it there where no one would see because a single detail could reveal Blake's heritage and past to others. She may be injured, but Blake was _suffering_ and had been holding it in.

"Blake, I never had a mother."

Blake was confused. However, she said nothing and resumed brushing Weiss' hair. It looked much cleaner now, instead of having spent two days outdoors within a ghost town.

"It can be hard to truly comprehend what the rest of you had. My father isn't exactly what you would call a family man. I am a First Family Body Heir first, and daughter second. My father joined my mother's house during the last Long Winter after my grandfather passed on. She didn't have the mind needed to run the company and needed Father. Then she died delivering my older sister, and to ensure the family line was secure with only one descendant, her ovum was frozen until a... replacement was deemed warranted."

Blake almost sputtered her next words while trying to hold them back. "You mean you- I mean- what does this have to do with a train?"

Weiss shook her head, and grimaced from the mild vertigo. "You, Yang and Ruby. Everyone at Beacon was conceived out of love. Wanted. I was a business arrangement to secure the family line. Conceived in a lab. I am so rich that a servant was hired on as my incubator until my birth, and paid enough to retire in luxury for the rest of their family's life. My older sister…something happened to her and she had problems. So I became the Heir when she renounced her title and told everyone she wanted nothing to do with the company. But I came with… some minor anomalies. Bone spurs. On my wrists. You know the scar over my eye? Everyone speculates that my father did it or I was injured because he was pushing me too hard. The truth is I scratched myself in the womb and was born this way. I needed corrective surgery so I wouldn't damage myself further as an infant."

Blake automatically looked down at Weiss' exposed wrist. The light was soft, but Blake had her grandmother's eyesight. Able to see very well in the dark, let alone soft lighting. It may as well have been displayed in direct sunlight. There on the Heiress' inner wrist was a small circular scar. Very feint, but plainly visible.

"Anyways, I wasn't the perfect Schnee I was supposed to be. After Winter abdicated, I had to try very hard to measure up to the lofty Schnee standards. It was… challenging, I admit, but nothing beyond my reach. Of course Father provided me with anything I needed. But he was also had an angry and exacting personality. He tried. I know he did, because I was 'still _a Schnee_.' But sometimes he would look at me like I was... defective merchandise. Something he paid for and couldn't return. I'd keep my proper composure until he was finished with his instruction, then when I was back in my room I'd call Winter and… talk about it.

 _Dammit, Weiss!_ Blake thought. _Even now you can't admit you can be weak. That you can cry from being hurt._

"Other times he would come home after the Faunus had done something. He would have this look in his eye and it scared me. I could never understand it. I'd try to help him feel better, but he would just snap at me. Tell me 'A Schnee is stronger than some low-bred _Faunus_.' I... learned not to after a while.

"I know it seems petty, but the train was a serious blow to my family's prestige. An entire train shipment of dust stolen! Not just the cargo, but the actual _train_. The engine came rolling into the station and most of it was missing! As if we were a laughing stock. When Father got home he was beyond just angry. Beyond infuriated. I was there to greet him when he came home from work like I did every day, and he just _looked_ at me. I knew being a daughter of a First Family came with sacrifices. That I wasn't like other children, that more was expected of me and that sometimes I didn't meet those expectations. But I had never seen _hate_ in my father's eyes when he looked at me. My father could hate me."

Blake suppressed her own inner response. She had been subjected to plenty of hate and prejudice in her life as a Faunus. One of the many reasons she hid her feline ears under her black bow. But even she had known the love of family. Even in the White Fang there were those who had once cared about her. But this part of Weiss' life was caused by something she had done directly.

"My sister was on a home visit as well. She had been doing better after military school and had just gotten a promotion in the Atlesian armed forces. My sister appeared to have had a relapse in her celebration and walked in drunk, just like she used to. Splashing Father's hundred-year-old cognac all over the floor with one bottle and swinging an empty one with the other hand. Stumbling around and yelling. About how she hated him and everything he stood for. That if she hadn't broken because of him she would have taken me with her to Vacuo long ago. How she'd forgive certain Faunus before she ever forgave _him_."

Weiss paused for a while, taking comfort in the attention her hair was receiving. Almost as if reliving happier memories before she continued further. "I ran all the way into my room before my father could respond and hid in my bed just like when I was a small child. There was a lot of noise and crashing. It went on for what seemed like forever and I wondered if my father was going to kill her. After a while it quieted down and someone came into my room. My sister lifted up the blankets and crawled in with me, holding me. She had black eye and a split lip that got past her aura. My sister held me like she did when I was little and afraid of the things in the night. She kept saying 'It's going to be fine, baby girl. You're safe now.' That was when I realized that my sister had been provoking my father in those early years to take the focus away from me. From my blemishes. That no matter how much he tried he that is what he would see."

"Weiss," Blake carefully spoke. "That train was a trap. Very elaborate, incredibly dangerous, and straight out of research and development. You father probably spent enormous sums on it. Far more than what the rest of the cargo was worth. Invested not only his company's pride but his own ego. Even an experienced raid team would have been slaughtered. Yet it failed."

Weiss' head turned around to stare at the Faunus, the movement pulling her hair away.

"How can you know that? It was hushed up before the other Families heard about it, let alone the media."

Blake found herself not wanting to answer the Heiress now. Part of her instinct telling her to once again run away. _Stop running away, Blake._

"That was the day I left. When I realized what my mentor had become. What the cause had slowly mutated into. What I had been a part of."

"No." Weiss said forcefully. "You asked _me_ about this. Specifically _this._ You-"

"I was there!" Blake exclaimed, unable to meet the other girl's eyes anymore. "It was just supposed to be a demonstration. That dust being mined by exploitative Faunus labor practices wasn't going to profit the mining companies. We were just supposed to be drawing attention, but it all went wrong."

Weiss sat back, stunned. Deep down she had known Blake had probably done some things beyond the protests she had mentioned being a part of as a little girl. But none of it connected with anything personal between them. Not directly. Nothing _major_. Blake was young and reserved. Not one of those overgrown brutes.

"Weiss. I wasn't a member of the ordinary rank and file. I was… a guerrilla. One of their aura fighters in what you'd call High Profile Operations. The train was a trap specifically for someone like me because we were such a thorn in their side. Some cars were full of military androids and something I had never heard of before. Some sort of spider droid but it had an impossibly small Hellbore Cannon. Smart. Fast. It blew apart whole sections of the adjoining cars it rode in trying to kill us. If I had been alone I _would_ have been killed.

"When it was over we were supposed to plant charges to destroy the shipment. That was the plan I was told. When the cars were secured I asked about the crew. My partner, my mentor didn't care. Didn't care that there were people on board. That they had nothing to do with our fight to be equal. Didn't even care that he didn't know if they were Human or Faunus. A side to him that had crept in over the years. I had listened to his excuses at first. That none of it was intended. Accidents, bad luck, circumstances gone bad. I _believed_ in him until he finally stopped pretending. So _I_ was the one who 'stole' the train. I put myself between him and the crew further up the line and severed the connections to the cars so he couldn't hurt those innocent people. I saw what they were grooming me for and I ran. That was the last I ever saw of any of them."

Blake looked up with sorrowful eyes into the other girl's wide ones. "Weiss. I tried to say something when you all found me after I ran away. That I wasn't part of them anymore. That I regretted so much that had happened. But you didn't want to hear it. Just decided not to care. But _I_ care, Weiss. I have to live with it. I wanted to know. I wanted to know the hurt I caused you because I care."

Weiss turned her face away from the Faunus. "I think we should stop talking now," she said in a gruff tone.

There was a burdensome moment of unnatural silence. Blake stood up to walk away. "Maybe I should go. Maybe this was a mistake."

"Maybe you should stop running away from all your problems, Belladonna," Weiss returned coldly. "Plus I never said you could stop brushing. I won't have my hair left half done and looking like I was too incompetent to complete such a simple task."

Blake nodded her head, tears threatening to escape the deep well inside her. She sat back down and held up the hairbrush.

"It was a tough day, Blake. We're both sleep deprived and have not been ourselves."

"Yes. It was. A tough day," Blake replied. Agreeing without spoken words to the equally unspoken offer of respite. Something they both sorely needed and wanted even more.

The brush carefully traced down her scalp. Scratching at places Weiss hadn't realized needed scratching. A soft touch of a hand smoothing down her hair following the brush. Something she hadn't experienced since her sister had been sent away. Weiss cleared her overworked mind and let it wander freely. Focusing on her senses to clear her currently less-than-optimal mind. Taking in what she had learned tonight and placing them into the back of her thoughts. As difficult as bringing up the past could be, they were living in the here and now. Blake had saved her life, possibly at great expense to herself. Not because Blake wanted something from her, but because they were teammates. If her family hadn't been lost, Blake would not have been found by those criminals. The Schnee Family owed Blake Belladonna a debt. That was what was important. The rest could be digested later with rational and unimpaired faculties.

Several more silent minutes went by. Blake paused at times to empty her coffee cup and start on the fourth.

"Did that hurt?" Blake asked suddenly.

"Did what hurt?" Weiss asked, confused. Blake hadn't been running that brush around the swollen part at the back of her head, but her scalp and bangs.

Blake shifted her position into a kneeling one upon the bed. "You have some… I'm not sure. Right here," she said, lightly tapping the low area in her scalp with the brush.

Weiss let out a grumpy huff. "Oh, don't you get started too! First that nurse rambling about a dented skull, and now you? My scalp is normal and always has been! I swear if one more person makes a fuss about it I am going to-"

Blake tuned the rest of the threat out. She looked down from behind the Heiress. She was letting her body relax again, arms crossed precisely over her stomach. It allowed Blake a look at the blemish on Weiss' wrist in the soft light. A look a human might have trouble with but her own eyes could manage. There was a scar on _each_ wrist. Symmetrical ones.

Blake ran the brush again over that white hair, this time running her hand over that weird spot on the top of Weiss' head. Two spots. Not round, but like a slight depression where she rubbed her own temples when Yang sang in their dorm's bathroom and knew everyone else wanted to sleep in.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked warily.

"I think there is something in your hair."

"Well? Is there or isn't there?"

Blake leaned over and used the brush to peer through the white hairs. It was very difficult to see, given that white hair and very fine white skin blended together very well. But what didn't blend was a very thin, but unnaturally darker line. _Did Weiss have brain surgery at some point?_ In fact there were two. One running across each side of her scalp at the base of those slight indentations-

 _Oh dust, no. No. Oh, gawd._

"Did you get it out?" Weiss asked.

"Uh, yeah. It was nothing. You're good to go now, and I need to use the bathroom."

"Well, drinking four large coffees that fast will do that to you," Weiss replied. "It's going to be a long night and you should pace yourself, Belladonna."

Blake carefully vacated her position and Weiss cautiously lay herself back into the bed, lowering the motorized hospital bed down to a more relaxed position but still keeping her head elevated.

"I'll be right back," Blake called quietly over her shoulder as she walked a few steps away.

She didn't wait for a response before shutting herself in the small enclosure and sat down on the toilet. Her hand covering her face and mouth.

 _I didn't want to know this. I'm sorry, Weiss. I am so, so sorry._

Blake's mind, trained by binge marathon reading into the wee hours when everyone else was asleep, couldn't unstick the pieces fitting together. Couldn't unsee the puzzle pieces snapping into place.

The young Faunus girl pulled her hands away from her face and looked at her own wrists. The small points where vestigial dewclaws had been removed before they could be ripped or torn away.

Weiss had multiple birth defects, which _somehow_ had been missed in early exams by health care only a First Family could afford.

Weiss had spurs on her wrists that had to be removed.

Weiss had a birthmark on her tailbone.

Weiss had scars where Blake's own feline ears sat underneath her bow.

 _Oh heavens, no. Weiss-_

Her father had anger problems often directed toward the younger daughter.

Winter provoking her bigoted father to protect her sister.

A young adolescent's age difference between the two sisters.

The older sister had behavior and substance issues after something had happened.

Winter had a non-fatal 'disemboweling' scar across her belly.

Winter had been 'gotten to' by Faunus the belly scar was a result.

Weiss' mother had passed away over a decade before she was born.

Weiss hadn't been conceived in love. That was probably the only true statement that made up her teammate's entire existence.

The Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, raised by the dogmatically Faunus hating Mr. Schnee, _was Faunus._ Mutilated, isolated, and conditioned to pass as human. Weiss Schnee didn't have an older sister at all! She had a mother who had cared for her, whom had been forced to care about her Faunus daughter as a human sister to cover up the incident.

For the Schnee's, the truth getting out would have been a disaster. Their precious High Family bloodline 'polluted' by Faunus genes which would be dominant for generations. Weiss' ' _Father?_ ' Blake just couldn't bear to think about that. Didn't want to think of just how difficult Weiss' childhood actually had been.


	2. Chapter 2

Winter Schnee pushed her small chair away from the efficient work desk facing the bulkhead of her stateroom and stretched her arms far over her head. Exercising her muscles before they could start to cramp up. It was late evening and hunger was calling her toward the personal kitchenette area tucked in the opposite far corner of the compartment. Her uniform's white equestrian styled outer coat with its accompanying coattails, trousers and sea blue vest felt heavy on her body. She continued to ignore both.

The necessarily miniature living compartment aboard her 'courier' airship was utilitarian, in a sense. Everything in it has a purpose, stowed away efficiently and neatly according to Atlesian military regulations. Not that any of the furnishings were military issue. Far from it. Tasteful, of the highest quality, and according to her father's business contacts in the aerospace industry, 'befitting a Schnee.'

Winter may have wanted her father to keep his nose completely out of her business and she may cut herself off from his direct influence, but Mr. Schnee's fingers reached everywhere when they wanted to. Not that those couldn't be made useful but Winter prided herself on never again being dependent on his money and the puppet strings that went along with them.

Yes, if her father had directly offered his self-disowned body heir the benefits of the Schnee Dust Company's web of resources and ingenuity, she would have turned them down flatly. But with herself severing away those ties years ago, she was free of that.

To a degree, given that nothing was ever that simple. Father had naturally kept up the Family's need to maintain a Schnee's high standards, regardless of the actual status of their nearly non-existent familial relationship. Winter was still a First Family daughter and that would never change. Despite her disinherited state and serving in the Altas military, she still had traditional rights, privileges and responsibilities within their society. Even if she denied herself the rights and privileges part as much as possible.

It was a balancing act in the Atlesian armed forces. Unlike before the Great War, there was no special treatment under General Ironwood's administration regarding rank or privileges. The same was expected from a recruit who had originated from the streets as one that had come from the ballrooms of high society. While there were still some high born with poor attitudes, there were also their fair number who were model soldiers. Winter Schnee being an _exceptional_ model soldier. Too exceptional to be healthy according to the occasional whispers spoken behind her back when others thought she couldn't hear them.

But she was also First Family. Descended from the first pioneers that founded the ancient homesteads that would one day become the Kingdom of Atlas. Having been born with prestige and connections that other recruits hadn't been. So there was a duality in her obligations. A balancing act on all sides in dealing with First Family concerns and matters of the State. Sometimes they were separate. Sometimes they mingled. Sometimes they were in harmony and other times at odds. Yet Winter had earned the trust of her commanding generals using her sound judgement in walking this tightrope. The responsibilities of not abusing it and the benefits that came with stepping outside strict military protocol when it was necessary.

Like her personal quarters aboard what was, by all intents and purposes, her personal airship. _Technically_ it belonged to the Atlesian military. And so were most of the 'standard' but clearly not Government Issue furnishings that appointed her stateroom. It was spartan in style, with an economically sized yet not tiny bed in the corner opposite the door. The sheets not made of Mistral Silk, but still expensive and eased its often overworked owner to sleep. The workspace desk, locking overhead bookshelf, and upholstered chair connected by an arm and bracket system to the desk were of the highest quality and craftsmanship. Neither overly flaunting wealth nor fame but also elegant in design. The compact walnut dining table folded up into the wall along the last corner at the farthest end was equally so. Top quality, hand crafted and tasteful, but not outlandish. The supply of food stored elsewhere was even more so. Suitable for a five-star restaurant. Not an unnecessary luxury given her travels could involve two week flights between kingdoms with VIPs aboard.

The ship itself was a 'prototype model courier vessel' made with assistance from the Schnee Dust Company and associated military contractors it did business with. Once Winter had achieved her place within the Special Operations Unit, and the great deal of independence in carrying out her orders that went with her duties, the Schnee family influence reared its head. She was a Schnee, and it just wouldn't do to be assigned a _typical_ contraption to be seen in public with. First Family appearances within their society's traditions had to be maintained, and any transportation assigned to the Schnee family's firstborn would be her home for the duration of her career. 'Slumming it' was inconceivable and there was no way her father's ego would let that lie.

The military could live with a free state-of-the-art vessel suited to carry self-important VIPs without tying up their needed air cruisers into escort duty for every VIP's private airship flying through unsecured airspace between the kingdoms. Those VIP's could travel securely, quickly, and at taxpayer's expense in their own luxury accommodations slipped into the modular cargo compartment. And have the pleasure of their inflated ego's tickled by the military 'recognizing' their importance by assigning someone such as the skilled Schnee firstborn to see them through the dangers of inter-kingdom travel. Someone who knew the social dances, the important names, and most importantly the High Family discretion that an uncultured grunt would know nothing of. And of less importance, keep them from being brutally killed by Grimm.

Of course that was not all that Winter's assignments entailed, and her vessel wasn't _just_ a courier. However, being a Special Operative wasn't like it was depicted in the movies. Yes, she often made special courier runs delivering sensitive material, documents, orders and personnel all over the world of Remnant. Data too sensitive to transmit through the open airwaves of the Cross-Continental Transmit System. But Special Operatives also operated alone, without notice or noise far from the borders. Which also allowed for more covert assignments that an opposing side should never know about or be publicly advertised with torrents of gunfire and impressive explosions of dilapidated buildings.

Often it was photo and signal reconnaissance. With Remnant's dust based technology and propellants becoming inert at anything approaching the high altitude bands of Remnant's atmosphere, orbital satellites were merely a wishful dream. Long duration dirigibles, lighter-than-air blimps, and equipment suspended from balloons were easy prey for even small Nevermores. Grown ones were a significant threat to all but the largest airborne vessels not designed for combat. That didn't even count the Lancers which traveled in swarms and whose harpoons could punch through a ship's hull.

Other times it was android paradrops and extractions of personnel while under Grimm attack. Sometimes with Grimm slashing right up to the cargo ramp during their ascent and escape. Or dropping _herself_ over some clearing and investigating a distant camp for bandits or White Fang activity. Sometimes accepting datachips from dead drops left by informants or agents and recalling her ship when she arrived back at the extraction point.

Or, on rare occasions, simply rolling a massive dust-air bomb out of the back of her ship and down into a waiting valley full of Grimm while under aerial attack. Concentrations on the ground too high for any number of Huntsman to deal with and virtually incinerating every living thing caught in the terrifying blast zone.

Essentially an Atlesian Special Operative was required to be capable of fulfilling _any_ task that one may be called upon to perform that were incompatible with the use of a larger military presence by traditional forces. A travel guide for high society one day, a mail carrier another, a stealthy scout or sword swinging rescuer the day after, or the bringer of fire and lightning the next. Usually under conditions that meant backup or rescue was days or weeks away.

Everything Winter Schnee needed to be. If only it had been long ago. She had thought herself prepared and she was. At least the arrangements and plans had been before Weiss had even departed White Castle for Beacon Academy. Emotionally? That was something no one could ever truly prepare for until actually faced with the prospect.

With tonight's activities, memories of the past threatened to surface again. They were always there, of course. Lurking below conscious remembering. Her family had been very good at pretending their lies were reality. With the right appearances if you tell yourself something often enough for long enough, you could believe it was the truth. Even her father could do so for the sake of their Family Name. After all, just because common ethics didn't necessarily agree with Father's principles didn't mean he had none to live by.

But things were never simple. Even after renouncing her ties to Family affairs it just didn't happen completely. Arrangements still needed to be maintained, private business done to protect her interests.

To protect Weiss. To ensure she had a place in this world, safe from discovery as much as humanly possible.

Winter had maneuvered around her own father for years. The man did try. He honestly did. But his disdain of the Faunus had only grown into outright detestation since the police had delivered her back to him so long ago. Under stress caused by the White Fang he couldn't keep up the lie about their family in his own mind. No one could fool themselves every moment of every day. Not when the very reminder of the lie looked up to him as father, desiring a parent's approval.

Of course neither of them had wanted the truth of what happened to come out. Or acknowledge anything that happened had actually happened. Denial had become a way of life for them. However, Winter over the years had reminded her Father on occasion that she would release the sealed police report, the birth records, _everything_ , to the media if he should ever leave them with no other option. None of what happened was Weiss' fault. Her sins belonged to Winter herself and she would bear them herself as a Schnee should.

She had occasionally caught her father also reminding himself in the mirror when he thought no one was looking. No matter what, Weiss was still a Schnee. That the girl didn't bear any _features_ helped to inflate his own ego about superior Schnee genes. That delusion had helped with a lot of the cooperation Winter had needed during the last seventeen years. Not that it hadn't come without battles. So many fights, so many sacrifices. Her own emotional wounds hadn't healed properly. Enlisting into the Atlesian Military had been very good for her. Kept her from finally losing herself completely to drinking.

Self-medicating it was called. Thankfully not constant enough to become full alcoholism, but an emotional crutch when she had needed one. To cope with the decisions someone that young should never have had to make. Deliberate provocations for her father when necessary to protect the precious consequence of those impossible choices.

Tonight's activities hadn't been only about missions, duty to Atlas, or other military matters as was normally the case. First was contacting her father through her Scroll about the hijacked Paladins used by the White Fang. That call hadn't lasted long and given her father's abrupt response, the sound of a fist hammering his desk and the clear grinding of his teeth, that particular under-the-table investigation would reach a definite and decisive conclusion.

The next call, on the other hand, was on her secure desk terminal using Family encryption on the airship's military datalink to the CCTS tower. Technically against regulations to use military assets for personal use, but the Powers-That-Be understood First Family business couldn't always wait for their members to return home and that those duties was often _very_ confidential. Again, discretion and sound judgement were valued by her superiors because those traits were applied to military matters just as equally.

Actually in her case, given Winter's strict and rather inhuman adherence to regulations, General Ironwood had finally ordered her to _stop_ asking for permission to attend to her family matters since he had far more important things to focus his finite attention on.

That call had also been brief. The law firm's minor family had been serving her own house for nearly five generations. Their traditional service was to the Schnee dynasty itself, not to any one person such as her father. Long ago she had visited their office during lunch hours and had been connected with the most junior member of that law-aspiring family. Which was by design, since she could then convince the inexperienced apprentice to accept the initial retainer from her generous allowance money she had spent four and a half months saving to put necessary things into motion.

Drawing up papers for Winter to present to her father as assigning him as her legal advisor and 'tutor.' Salary and expenses paid out of her traditionally endowed trust fund and so demonstrate she was taking responsibility for her future as well as endeavoring to gain experience in business affairs. Next, prepare to hide digital medical documents within the Schnee Family data vault within the law firm's servers under her personal key. Move money from her trust fund, which she couldn't access directly as a child, and arrange for payments as needed. To make the accounting inconspicuous as a safety measure. Everything she had needed and couldn't do herself as a minor, the matter now protected by client-attorney privilege. Secret even from her father; to protect an innocent from a possible forced abortion should the matter be discovered. To protect that life from paying for Winter's own sins and repay the debt she owed. One that could never be repaid fully.

Winter's personal lawyer had risen up in his profession over the last seventeen years, and still was professionally and personally faithful in his duty toward his two Schnee clients. A credit to his own family. Keeping Winter's secret with the only note locked forever within his mind. Ensuring the wishes of his young clients to the best of his ability, even though the circumstances at the beginning had been most unusual and painful.

So tonight the wheels of legal machinations began turning immediately. Sending out requirements to a certain hospital about the strictest of all non-disclosure agreements, privileged health information about a First Family Heiress _not_ being saved in any form and instead be fed directly to their own office server _in real time_ , and that any physical paperwork being forwarded to the Schnee family's private medical practitioner the _instant_ their patient was released. All on very impressive and imposing Schnee Dust Company letterhead, sighting a very lengthy list of very well-known names of the company's legal directors in the margin.

After that had been a truncated call from General Ironwood himself. Verbally countermanding any orders she had previously been preparing for and to stand by for redeployment. The nature of the mission unknown as well as its requirements, but to prepare her ship anyway. Reassuring his subordinate officer that her sister was in good condition and that he would contact Winter again once he no longer had fifty other issues demanding his attention at every moment.

Orders had driven her into action, which was a welcome relief. It kept her mind busy with trivial minutia that she was familiar with and could perform automatically. Her ship had been stationed at an airbase along the southern coast of Atlas and had been in the process of being loaded with modular VIP accommodations for an important flight to Vacuo. Along with nose camera gear for an undisclosed overflight of their Great Desert along the Vacuo border. Aerial evaluation of Deathstalker activity that they might expect throughout the summer as had been requested by that government and VIPs aboard didn't need to know about.

Since that would require a significant refueling stop in Vale, there was also the flight over the mountain chains leading west from that kingdom to the Kingdom of Vacuo. Visually checking the microwave repeater stations that complemented the large CCTS transmitter beacons and served as navigational references along the way. The annual preparation for the southern hemisphere's winter season when repair teams and Huntsman patrols could no longer reach those mountain peak stations. Oh, and the flight plan overshadowing the rail line along the foothills since it was along the way. Just in case of bandits looking to loot some cargo off the freight line when they thought no one was watching.

Days of planning, coordinating and harshly snapping at personnel to do their jobs, gone in a flash. Habitation sections even now being offloaded from her ship's cargo space and taken away into storage. But none of that mattered. What mattered was that Vale had been attacked. Weiss had been there and suffered injuries defending the people. General Ironwood had offered his praise regarding her sister, and his reassurance that her team was looking after her in the hospital as she recovered from minor injuries.

Sister. They had been sisters all Weiss' life, but Winter's heart never let her forget. The scar over her womb a reminder.

A physical reminder of the decisions she had been required to make. The pain in her heart for what was lost. An empty place within her that she could never admit even existed.

Winter had spent two and a half hours examining possible routes, logistic assessments, travel times, weather reports and maintenance logs. But all she could really figure was that her deployment was _probably_ toward Vale. Mission packages, time estimates, fuel expenditures necessary to meet mutually exclusive mass and flight time requirements.

All of it busy work while she waited. It helped. She had too many memories waiting for her to let her guard down. Worries about Weiss being in the hands of doctors not under Schnee control; noticing something they ought not. Any need to test her blood type being particularly worrisome, the one weak point that could collapse the house of cards. Winter had kept reminding herself that she was a soldier. To keep soldiering on. To be strong on the inside as well. Not just on the surface.

Then finally a return call from her lawyer. Absolute compliance from the hospital, which had been fully prepared to accommodate First Family requirements and that the patients were located in private rooms on the secure top floor. While the nursing staff were busy with far more pressing casualties, Team RWBY was standing watch over their injured comrades while the staff's limited attention was needed elsewhere. That the staff was busy with other patients was actually a good thing; being relieved with the prepared documentation from a family doctor that Weiss' skull anomalies were pre-existing conditions from a difficult birth and not a medical concern. They would set it aside in favor of more life threatening priorities while they worked under triage conditions.

It was now that Winter could finally relax somewhat, stretching her muscles from her tense position at her workstation these past few hours. She looked around, eyeing the small holographic works of art displayed on the walls. Physical items were a hazard in a ship taking extreme evasive maneuvers, so there were few of them. Furniture bolted down to the deck. Cupboards and storage spaces locked tight. The walls a muted white with blue trim along the floor and ceiling, depicting calming landscapes from the holo projections.

Most of Winter's cabin was devoted to her duty as an Atlesian military officer. Being a soldier was what held her together, a framework of how to be a human being. A refined one as befit her standing in society, but a soldier nonetheless. Yet if she was honest with herself she had traded one crutch of made of drink for another. She no longer knew how _not_ to be a soldier. Not after that final blow that resulted in her being sent away to military school. However, it was one that had given her a purpose in life again after she had finally broken.

Perhaps that was why she clashed with Ozpin's agent Qrow so much in the past. The pig of a man wallowed in his slovenly drunkenness. Flaunting it at all times and even more so in public, along with his clear disdain for authority and order. She had finally turned away from alcohol for good, and even in the worst times hadn't lost that final bit of control over that tool. He, on the other hand, made it a full time hobby and somehow thrived on it. Still a match for her intoxicated while she was ten years sober.

Never sober but neither losing his rascal soul to the bottle. Unlike those drunken, filthy, Bliss impaired _animals_ -

Winter cut off that line of thought. The hardest part of pretending for years on end was when it all tried to come back and one couldn't allow it. And tonight had been full of reminders.

The woman composed herself, using the reflection in the shiny desk surface to straighten her immaculate hair bun. Satisfied, she chose to return her focus to the work at hand. Mission modules in the airbase's inventory but not necessarily available for a variety of reasons. Ready to formulate plans to commandeer them from other missions or guardian quartermasters if necessary.

Then she saw the lower lines printed out along the desk computer's holographic display floating above her workspace. Her lawyer's report after dealing with the hospital. The team mates signed in as official overnight visitors.

This Ruby Rose was listed with Yang Xiao Long. Weiss had written in her letters that they were sisters. Annoying, the younger one barely educated and the older sister endeavoring to be crude and unladylike. They were from 'a nature infested backwater' island called Patch, according to the letters. However, the tone had begun to change over time. Weiss including her reports of Ruby's progress as well as her own.

It was good leadership practice to tutor a struggling subordinate and partner. But interesting that Weiss couldn't figure out that this Ruby had skipped a few years and so had to be cramming in three years' worth of education just to keep up with her classmates. Although Weiss wouldn't accept average as acceptable even if she did, regardless of circumstances. That wasn't how Father had raised either of them.

There were several more lines of legalese on her lawyer's report. Sometimes they just couldn't understand the rest of the world didn't read that language.

So that meant this Blake fellow was watching over Weiss. Winter scowled over that. She didn't necessarily approve of adolescent co-ed arrangements; especially in Weiss' case. But she could admit a great deal of bias in this matter. On the other hand, Beacon screened their applicants very carefully. Plus, from Weiss' letters this Blake character was not really a boy to worry about. A bit of a loner apparently and not wanting to get involved, unlike some others Weiss had mentioned in a shift in handwriting that showed her severe annoyance in those boys. Showing she still had a good head on her shoulders and wasn't getting distracted.

Still, Huntsmen and Huntresses were not segregated and privacy was limited in the field. The young had to deal with that reality at some point and be taught maturity, dignity and respect in a controlled environment. Beacon Academy had the strictest standards for applicants in the world and not just in skill. Professor Ozpin looked for more. Much more. The most renowned fighting academy in all of Remnant did not accept just anyone, and most that could were driven to become Huntsmen. Had sacrificed childhoods to train. Had already devoted much of their school years into becoming warriors and defenders against real life monsters. Students not likely to throw away their chance to become Huntsmen of the highest caliber lightly.

Close relationships, and even attachments, were permitted to a degree. Enough to encourage their developing humanity and connections with other people. To not lose themselves into becoming merely sentient weapons. They had dances and balls. Taught art and literature as their education progressed. Encouraged friendships and independence. Empathy. Integrity. Togetherness and unity. Forging bonds that could last beyond graduation. Ones that could even last a lifetime.

However, Ms. Goodwitch was also draconian in her personal policy about getting _too_ close. Students still emotionally developing into adulthood were entrusted with dust, explosives, live ammunition and unimaginably sharp blades. Often within the same weapon. Not just in experimental building projects, but in live bouts that could injure or kill the unprepared. They were sent out on field trips and exercises against actual Grimm. Not only that, some classes involved captive Grimm being let loose within the classroom.

It was said that if a student even _thought_ about doing something that could permanently endanger their team dynamic, or worse, involved risks that could end a career with a new one that involved changing diapers, the school disciplinarian would know about it and find you. Anyone who couldn't respect those risks toward another student's future couldn't be trusted with the ones that could kill, and  would be expelled. Wash out of Beacon Academy and the other Headmasters would trip over each other to have you attend their school. Become _expelled_ and one could find themselves automatically blacklisted from the entire profession.

In fact, much of that had been formally stated so in black and white on the entrance application form. Alongside a scowling portrait of Ms. Goodwitch that communicated she meant business. A welcome relief to a High Family scion signing that document that allowed her secret child and next Heiress of their family line to attend a co-ed boarding school. Away from the influence of Father. A chance for Weiss to grow into her own person, just as she had back at the Atlas Military Academy. In fact, Winter had spent a quarter term at Beacon during a student exchange tour for a previous Vytal Festival. So she had a fairly good idea of what Weiss was going to experience.

Winter paused. Actually now that she thought about it, in her letters Weiss barely mentioned this Blake character at all. Not as much as if the person was a non-entity, but as one who probably was rather introverted and there simply wasn't much to report. The 'moody bookworm' comments had certainly suggested that. Winter herself wasn't much of a 'team player' in her day either, preferring to remain distant from others.

She would definitely inquire into this the next time she spoke to Weiss.

Then the woman saw the _full_ name of the overnight visitor staying with the young Heiress. One detail Weiss had _definitely_ overlooked in her letters.

 _Blake Belladonna._

The one name that could render her emotional walls non-existent. That could bring everything back to the very forefront of her mind. The pair of eyes too burdensome to remember ever again but could never truly forget.

Another pair of eyes she would literally do _anything_ to see again but could never get back.

The one name that could only strike terror into her heart at this moment. A name that couldn't _possibly_ be watching over her injured child, far, far out of reach.

The name of a sixteen year old homeless squatter who had delivered her from drugged kidnappers. Had nearly carried her weak form through the night, bundled up in his mother's coat to shelter her from the sleet raining down. All the way to the police station's front door. Later, according to the police reports, mortally beaten and left to freeze to death for his treachery. Son of a Faunus bloodline that had been snuffed out.

Winter closed her eyes, forcing down panic. Panic was the enemy, just as it had been seventeen years ago. Whoever was using that alias had been living next to Weiss as her teammate for nearly an entire school year and nothing had happened. Weiss wasn't some empty headed, naïve school girl. She was a Schnee; well versed in the self-serving, treacherous and sometimes backstabbing ways of high society. Not only a Schnee, but a Huntress-in-Training. Schooled not only self-defense but taking the offensive as well.

That being said, everything within her wanted to call General Ironwood and convince him to converge everything he had onto that hospital in Vale. But Winter couldn't. The universe didn't alter reality to allow for such fantasies. She had known that when she was a thirteen year old girl realizing the slowly expanding belly she kept covered up wasn't something she could wake up from.

It turned out the call came to her.

Winter typed several keystrokes and the result was surprising. General Ironwood was on hold, their systems waiting to be synchronized to identical encryption algorithms. Something that was usually done automatically by the communication system. However this time the General was using one of the high security cyphers. One not stored within the system itself. In fact, he was using the highest security cypher she would have in her possession.

The woman steeled her emotions and left her desk momentarily. She walked over to one of the holographic landscapes projected on the wall and deactivated it. The image blinked off in a burst of static and revealed a small wall safe. Winter pressed her thumbprint onto the device, allowed the retinal scan and spoke the alphanumeric combination that would unlock the white featureless door if performed in the correct order. Or could destroy its contents as well if performed in another sequence.

It popped open momentarily for Winter to retrieve the necessary datachip. Returning to her desk, she slipped the object into an unassuming port within the desk's surface in one corner.

Winter pressed the key that would accept the call from General Ironwood and snapped herself back into her familiar soldier persona. Back ramrod straight, expression strong and controlled.

The General's image blinked to life on her holographic display and standing next to Beacon Academy's Headmaster. Surprising that he would allow such a thing, given the classified protections in place. Even more surprising that the background was the Headmaster's office.

Winter set her own thoughts aside once again and cleared her mind. "Sir!" she greeted her commanding officer with an academy sharp salute. Something most had grown out of as they matured into their military career.

General Ironwood returned the salute more casually but with equal respect for the gesture. The man looked like he had put in long hours. By contrast, the elderly green suited Headmaster appeared to be fresh and ready for another day regardless of circumstances. Just like she had witnessed during her exchange tour at Beacon.

"Specialist Schnee. Good to see you again. I'm sorry I didn't have time earlier for a more in-depth update. I have security keeping a distant eye on your sister and her friends as material witnesses to the events leading up to the Grimm attack here in Vale. The hospital won't disclose much, but I am informed their injuries are not serious. Barring complications they should be ready to be released in a few days."

"Thank you, Sir." Winter replied in her disciplined tone, her posture solid as a rock and mind just as rigid. "You will be pleased to know I have already forwarded that issue about missing equipment to my father. He is not pleased and I will of course relay any results to your desk as they come in."

She may not have much to do with her father anymore, yet even if the General knew and she knew he knew, Winter would never admit the fact to anyone outside the family.

General Ironwood eyed her with a particular look. One that might have sadly stated ' _You are never going to lighten up and let yourself be human, are you soldier?'_

"Your discretion in that matter is appreciated, Specialist. However, that is not why I am calling. We have a delicate matter, and as your commanding officer it is not something I am comfortable ordering you to do. There may be a… conflict of interest involved. I won't go into details over the airwaves, however your sister and her friends appear to have been pursuing a danger to Vale for quite some time. An avenue the rest of us have failed to make any headway in."

There was a pause as the General became visibly uncomfortable. He looked briefly at Professor Ozpin, who had remained silent in the military dialogue.

"Winter." Ironwood spoke with the same volume, but softly now. Personally. "The Grimm attack on Vale today was no accident. We have reason to believe it was a plan that was set in motion prematurely and ended in failure. We need answers and we need them quickly before the enemy can recover. We need to know what these four girls know and _how_ they know. Unfortunately the situation is delicate and we can't risk a professional interrogation. There is too much evidence that either they will shut us out, or we will cause mental or professional harm if we dig for answers. We… they… need someone they can trust. Preferably a family member to open up to that went through similar Huntsmen training. Right now you are the only one we can locate."

From Ironwood's expression, he could see the questioning expression that had slipped onto Winter's face. The need to know more.

"We can't say much over an open channel. Not even this secure one."

The woman noted that word being repeated. ' _We._ ' She eyed the Professor briefly. Apparently this teacher was no mere schoolmaster. Not if he and her commanding officer were in joint collaboration and not the military 'do what we tell you, civilian' type of cooperation.

"Winter." Again, a personal address to a subordinate. "The girls were sent out to scout an enemy hideout southwest of Vale under the cover of a Grimm search and destroy training mission from Beacon. Somehow they discovered its general location on their own, and they were best suited for the survey. I had the 67th, 127th, and the 242nd Air Cavalry squadrons along with the cruiser _Morning Star_ standing by to assault the base, but something went wrong. They ended up taking on the entire mission themselves."

Winter's ears stopped working for a moment. Ironwood was trying to ease her through this, her 'sister' being involved and injured due to what had happened. They had no idea what was going through her heart right now. Atlas had two entities that Ironwood referred to as 'enemy.' Grimm and the White Fang. Grimm did not establish bases nor hideouts. Nor did the creatures make plans.

Words started registering again, but she shook her head to reset her thinking. Words had stopped existing for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Winter replied with a professional exterior but feeling like her eyes betrayed her. "I assume you need me in Vale?"

Ironwood eyes changed again, this time with the slightest of hidden smiles. As if saying ' _Ah, so there is a human being in there after all.'_

"Affirmative. While their injuries are not serious, even if requiring medical observation, your sister and her friends are in a difficult position. We only managed to secure one prisoner and he is very uncooperative. So far there is no evidence that there are any more survivors. It appears your sister's team leader and teacher held off the enemy forces. Caught between two threats, the enemy were wiped out. We don't know yet how bad it was, but the girls have yet to realize they left a very high body count behind them. Probably because they had Grimm on their tail the whole way into Vale and most likely were the ones that finished them off. Either way, these students are going to have to deal with having blood on their hands. A lot of blood."

Winter nodded her head, using the expression to cover up the need to look away. Not trusting her facial expression for a moment. "Yes, sir."

Ironwood's image glanced at Professor Ozpin for several moments. The other man sent a silent question in return, which was answered by an equally silent confirmation. Ozpin sent another wordless message which Ironwood clearly accepted.

"There is something else, Specialist," Ironwood informed her. "We do not know the truth yet. I want to make that point _absolutely_ clear. It is one of the many questions we have. However, it seems that your sister's team has succeeded where we have failed because someone on her team had inside knowledge of how... a certain enemy operates. Enough to infiltrate an underground rally and secure the location of a secret base."

Winter didn't even realize she had spoken. The thought was terrifying. Faunus and Schnee's didn't get along. With the White Fang it was an all-out blood feud. The possibility that a member of the White Fang was watching an incapacitated Weiss right now-

Her eyes realigned themselves back to the holographic screen before her. This time looking at Professor Ozpin. He was speaking.

"Yes. How did _you_ reach that conclusion from all the way in Atlas?"

She had spoken a name.

"Sir," she began, righteous anger edging into her voice. "I have personal information regarding the Belladonna family. Blake was the son and messenger of certain Faunus Rights activists working undercover to gather evidence regarding a particular work camp and smuggling aid for the impoverished. He was murdered eighteen years ago in Atlas at the age of sixteen. The last of the family was killed during the Schwarzwald Massacre eleven years ago. The Belladonna line died out and his name reappears in the casualty list by mistake. Perfect for any infiltrator needing a false identity with a sob story and unreliable records to make it difficult to verify. Yet not aware of the discrepancy. Whoever this person is, is an imposter. And he is with my sister _right now._ "

The two men on the other side of the display screen looked at each other. Ozpin adjusted his glasses slightly.

Professor Ozpin spoke once more.

"Ms. Schnee. I appreciate your concern for your sister, and your knowledge of the Belladonnas is _very_ impressive given the difference in your status. However, your sister is in no danger. In fact, it was this Belladonna that saved her life from the hands of one of their Lieutenants this morning. On top of that, I have a responsibility toward _all_ my students. Particularly ones who are more disadvantaged should any _Atlas_ official, whom I would remind you has no jurisdiction within my Kingdom, harbor a bias and the power to pursue it against them unjustly."

Winter didn't say anything as she reevaluated. Ozpin was trying to put her on the defensive for some reason.

Ozpin didn't pause the conversation. "That being said, I do have a responsibility toward my Academy in general and have quietly been examining the matter _personally_. I inquired further with their supervising Huntsman. Their team did have an… odd… conversation in the field during the night. A late night exchange when they believed him to be asleep as well. However, Blake admitted nothing specific. It seems among Team Ruby there was no need for it as they seem quite familiar with their comrade's past. Enough to speak of it at ease among themselves without using details. Not to mention _without_ judgement. However, that is very different when it comes to anyone _outside_ their team."

Ozpin pulled down his shaded spectacles to peer over them and directly at Winter. The crumbling picture she had of Weiss' life at Beacon couldn't keep up.

"Many of my students have a difficult past, Ms. Schnee, and it is often counterproductive to press at old wounds. I also do not hold past mistakes against them if they are willing to learn from those mistakes and better themselves in the process. In Belladonna's case, it seems some form of redemption is a particularly powerful motivator. We cannot confirm anything until we can gain their trust, however it seems Blake Belladonna may very well have been indoctrinated into this rather famous criminal group at a young age and had left when a previous mentor was discovered to be, and I quote, 'a monster.' I imagine that would not have been easy for a young girl surviving outside of the Kingdom and surrounded by outlaws who would not take kindly to desertion. Now, please tell me why on Remnant I should let anyone with the bias that Schnee's historically have shown, with the exception of your sister, anywhere near _Ms._ Belladonna."

Winter was frozen. This fake Blake Belladonna wasn't just _suspected_ of being White Fang? Had practically admitted it? And Weiss knew about it and _said nothing?_ Which meant she knew 'Blake' was a Faunus and never once let on to such a possibility in her letters. Didn't even let on that she wasn't the team leader. That her leader was two years younger than her, which must have been difficult to accept, and had kept that from her? That Weiss had said so much and she had _absolutely no idea what was going on_ in her daughter's life? And she was knowingly sharing a dorm room with a member of the White Fang? Weiss? The little girl who was once scared of the night's thunder because she thought Faunus would use the storm to sneak into her room?

Winter's inclination was to avoid their eyes. Battling confusion. Instead she bored into them, going on the offensive.

"Sir. I am not my father. While I may share his high standards, I do not share his _beliefs_. No one will admit it, Sir, but the Schnee Family owes the Belladonna Family a life debt. _Mine_. Mister Belladonna died delivering me from an abduction. His family died because I couldn't do more than insert an agent to play bodyguard for them. I hired private investigators who searched for _six years_ to track down survivors. I still have some personal effects they recovered-"

Then Ozpin's last statement hit her. He had said 'Miss.' Not 'Mister.' The man on the other side of the screen saw the realization in her eyes.

"That's right. Ms. Belladonna _is a seventeen year old girl_. Now I may be getting on in years, but I am no fool, Ms. Schnee. I run the world's foremost combat school and _every_ student on Remnant dreaming of becoming a Huntsmen desires to be accepted into my Academy. I have seen every trick and ploy devised to wrongly gain an admittance they don't deserve. I may even allow such ones in who may have otherwise gone unnoticed, but they certainly _do not_ succeed in gaining admittance based on _deception_. Ms. Belladonna may be evasive but she has not once lied to me. She certainly hasn't hidden her aversion as to how humans treat the Faunus, _Ms. Schnee_. She had plainly spoken of how she wishes to avoid attention as a Faunus and the trouble it causes. Given what may lie in her past, I certainly can't blame her."

Doubt crept in. No one else knew. Only those at Schwarzwald, and every single one of those few traumatized children had been reportedly tracked down through the foster care agencies and discounted since most were human. How could an impersonator know? Blake was obviously a boy's name, just as she had assumed. The public records listed Blake Belladonna as a deceased sixteen year old male who had died either in Atlas or Schwarzwald. They couldn't get another age and gender correct because there were no other _public_ records to sift through. Yet there had been no other survivors reported.

"Sir, may I ask when is her birthday? It's important."

Ozpin looked up the information on his Scroll with a puzzled expression. "Moonfall, the twenty second."

No one had ever been able to find a trace of the _junior_ Blake Belladonna. The Grimm rampage and subsequent cleansing strikes surrounding the Schwarzwald tragedy had made identifying one hidden child's… remains from among thousands of torn bodies impossible. Yet there was one place no investigator hired by a Schnee would search. It was too unthinkable. The White Fang.

The irony was simply beautiful.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to reviewers: Knight7572, TheWick, dracohalo117, Kabalandstryker, Matt Cyr, ExKage, Guest 1, ByLanternLight, and Guest 2. I appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts.

* * *

Yang leaned over a hunched Ruby as they held thick paper cups up to the extra wide hospital room door and tried to listen in on the now silent voices inside. She faced one direction down the hall, holding her IV stand with one hand while Ruby faced the other direction. Both on the lookout for a wandering nurse who would order them back to bed and not caring that it was easier to stay awake standing up. Not to mention trying not to be caught eavesdropping by their teammates or hospital staff who could show up any moment.

"Yang?"

"Shh. I think I hear the ocean," the blonde whispered to her sister jokingly.

Ruby growled briefly, stopping long enough to slurp from a rich 'Strawberry Avalanche' milkshake in the second cup she was holding. "I'm serious, Yang. Should we stage an intervention? Last time Weiss and Blake had that tone Blake ran away."

Yang let out a sigh. They couldn't hear everything. Perhaps every third word, but their tone of voice was clear. "No… They needed to clear the air between them instead of tip toeing around…uh, where they come from. I think this is good for them."

Ruby, wearing her school uniform and missing her dirty red hood, looked up at her sister standing over her as they both continued to eavesdrop. Yang wore her pajama shirt and shorts underneath the sky blue hospital robe, the extra covering being most unusual for her. On the other hand the brawler's normal body heat was usually a lot higher than average thanks to her fiery semblance which was suppressed at the moment. Ruby could actually see evidence of goosebumps on the visible parts of her sister's arms where the IV ran up her sleeve.

Then there was the IV stand Yang held on to. Her grip was white knuckled as she leaned toward the door with the heavy paper cup held up to her ear. The bruise on her forehead and spreading into a black left eye had become more noticeable.

Yang noticed the shift in Ruby's attention. She reached down and mussed over the younger sister's dark red hair with the upturned cup she held, which was empty of the water she had been allowed earlier. Mostly.

"Yang!" Ruby whined, forgetting the need for stealth momentarily. She brushed the intrusive object away and the water droplets out of her hair.

The older sister smiled warmly. "Relax, Rrrubes. I'm just making sure I don't stumble with these meds in me. Remember the doc's orders? No more bouncing my head off the floor for at least three weeks?"

She raised her cup holding arm up in a heroic pose of achievement as Ruby scowled up at her sister's lightheartedness. Yang went back to listening for further sounds coming from Weiss' closed door. It sounded like someone finally walked out of the bathroom but forgot to flush the toilet.

"Ruby, you know me. Do you think I'm going to stand for earning a shaved head for some surgery if I can avoid it? This is all just a precaution."

Her baby sister went back to listening in on the now silent room behind the closed door, unconvinced. Fortunately Ruby's natural predisposition for being distracted by the next thought that came into her head had plenty to keep her from dwelling on any one worry for too long. Her worry over her other teammates. Not getting caught by her other teammates for snooping. Not being busted by the floor nurse for not keeping Yang in her boring room when the obvious solution was to watch over all her friends together, thus the snooping. That dance with the evil brain freeze ninja as she slurped her fantastic milkshake as she snooped. A strawberry milkshake. Strawberries. With fudge. Mmmmmm… so sleepy.

Yang smiled at the obvious signs Ruby's face went through. Glad her sister was too sleep deprived to dwell too much about the day. Of course she was also keeping a lot from Ruby. The brief talk with Blake earlier had alarmed the Faunus, adding to her partner's inner burden and Yang was determined to avoid doing the same to Ruby.

She wasn't worried about surgery. This wasn't the first time Yang had gotten hurt. Life happened and lively kids growing up in the outdoors tended to bounce off the ground a lot. Plus both sisters knew about 'Just In Case.' They grew up in a Huntsman's cabin out in the more remote regions of a woodland island that preserved its undeveloped nature. Which the sparse inland inhabitants just happened to share with the occasional roaming Beowolf pack or Boarbatusk herd that made their way toward the coastal fishing villages from the inner island mountains.

However, Ruby had also struggled with Yang being hurt in their early years. Her tiny four-year-old body snuggled up to big-sissy Yang in bed when she had fractured a leg, earned from jumping out of a tree while playing 'Huntress and Grimm' during recess. The little girl afraid her sissy would go bye-bye just like mommy went bye-bye.

Minute traces of that would probably always linger despite how much Ruby tried not to so that her sister wouldn't fuss about it. Now she had Weiss injured as well. Not to mention all those people who were still being brought in to the hospital as they were dug out of collapsed buildings. Thankfully Ruby was too focused on her team to turn on a broadcast and hear what the news had to say.

Yang made sure that happened. The private talk with Blake while Ruby was busy messing up the admittance forms with Weiss hadn't gone so well. Her thoughts became a bit slurred inside as the day progressed, and it took effort to keep it out of her voice. Yang had asked Blake to take care of Ruby but unfortunately worded things like she was reciting her last will and testament. Which, if Yang was honest with herself, wasn't far from the truth. Bad things had happened today. A reminder that Yang had faced certain death once before as a child and had nearly gotten Ruby killed along with herself.

Nor did Yang know why she was let go this morning on the train. That smug little twerp of a girl/woman/whatever had her and she hadn't stood a chance; toyed with as if a plaything during the entire fight. A guardian to a criminal that dealt with terrorists and murderers, not to mention had helped Grimm into the city with a carefree smile. Who actually prolonged the fight because Yang was that outmatched and couldn't see it. Not the sort to grant enemies quarter or clemency.

Neo could have tossed her unconscious body off the speeding train and into the Grimm while she had been helpless to do anything about it.

Yang closed her eyes tightly. _Stupid mood swing. Stupid mania. First thing I 'see' waking up being my mom walking away from me again. And I was hurt too._

No. Even if she had stumbled through it, she was right to ask Blake to care for Ruby if something happened. Even if it was unlikely, she could still blow a blood vessel in her brain and Ruby would freak as the surgeons dug into her head to fix it. Yang couldn't even confide that she was unable to remember anyone's name. She could _say_ their names, but couldn't recall them in her thoughts. A symptom the examining doctor said should clear up within the next twenty four hours as her nervous system began to rewire itself during the healing process. A serious symptom, but not by itself a sign of dangerous or lasting neurological damage. The momentary hallucination upon regaining consciousness was more worrisome, but understandable given the combined factors of prolonged fighting, lack of sleep, stress, the pressure of the overall situation, having suffered a head injury then reviving in an expected combat environment as well as Yang's psychological background.

 _Yeah. Heavy stuff tonight, Sis_ , she foggily and lovingly thought while looking down at her eavesdropping sister. Focusing on that love to keep her stress and blood pressure low. The love that Yang's adoptive mother had shown her and now passed on to Ruby through her. Pushing the symptomatic pull toward depression away.

 _*Sluuuuuurp*_

Ruby neared the end of her last milkshake with her ear pressed up to the empty eavesdropping cup she held to the door. It was surprising the sound didn't echo down the hallway.

"Ruby!" Yang hissed instinctively, the name blocked from her mind but readily available to her tongue as she looked around for an alerted nurse or guard. "Don't slurp! Ice Queen can hear…uh- 'barnyard manners' a mile away!"

Sure enough came an icy voice through the closed door. "We could hear you two lurking out there like a pair of voyeurs, but now you are just insulting our intelligence. You may as well loiter in here where I can keep my eye on you two."

Ruby didn't hesitate, thrilled at being 'accepted' inside by her partner. She flung the door open and plunged inside in a blur and a cloud of manifesting rose pedals. "Weiss! I am so glad you are still okay! I was worried about you, but I was worried about Yang and about you and about Yang and you were in separate rooms and-"

Yang just smiled as Weiss' stern and tired voice drifted out of the dark room, halting Ruby's circular verbal rut before it became an everlasting feature that would haunt patients long into the future.

She walked in, pulling her IV stand behind her. The room was lighted solely by the overhead bed lamp illuminating a resting Weiss near the windowless far wall. An empty place for another bed with its assorted and hibernating recovery room paraphernalia gave the Heiress privacy and extra room for her unauthorized late night visitors.

Blake had been sitting in a folding chair next to the Heiress holding a book. The Faunus girl now had her feet up off the floor and was almost sitting on them; the book she held nearly implanted into her face as Ruby hovered over her partner on tip toes asking if Weiss felt okay. If she needed anything. Anything. Honestly, anything at all. It wouldn't be a problem. Unless it cost more than eighteen Lien because then it would be a problem and was all she had until the end of the month which was three weeks away-

"Ruby!" Weiss snapped. She lowered her voice back to a more friendly-for-Weiss volume. "There is something you can do for me. Something very important."

Ruby's eyes lit up as Yang walked in behind her and Blake decided it was safe enough to lower her feet back down to the floor. "Of course, Weiss! Do you need me to get your textbooks? But… you shouldn't study and let your head rest. Oh, I know! I can wash and iron your combat skirt. But… you all made that rule that I'm not allowed to iron anymore. Oooh!-"

"Ruby! I need quiet! So why don't you sit on that corner chair and get some sleep. You and Blake can take turns keeping watch over Yang and I. You have had less sleep than anyone and Blake just had four cups of coffee. I do not think anyone will mind if you go first."

Ruby slunk backward and stared at her toes, which she now tapped on the floor nervously. "You're right, Weiss. I should have thought of that. My team is hurt and I'm making you do the leader thinking when you should be resting. I'm not being a good leader right now, am I?"

Weiss looked over Ruby's shoulder at Blake and Yang, who looked back. It was mentioned that Ruby might blame herself. If she hadn't fallen through that sinkhole nothing about today would have happened. She and Yang wouldn't have been injured. Innocent civilians wouldn't have been hurt. However, none of that was Ruby's fault and it could easily have been worse had the attack taken place at a later date.

"Ruby, you were the best team leader we could have had today. Better than I would have been in that situation. You are just tired and concerned as a teammate right-"

"That's right!" Ruby exclaimed suddenly, pointing her finger into the air. "We need a party!"

Weiss just stared at her partner, jaw frozen in mid-speech. Clearly wondering which twilight zone that made up Ruby's disjointed brain _this_ came out of.

Ruby's finger swung through the air like a sword which came to a stop before Blake as Yang took a seat in the aforementioned corner chair to watch the show.

"The school year is almost over and we haven't had a birthday party for either of you two yet! Quick! When is it?"

Blake's expression grew sheepish. "I don't celebrate my birthday. Not since I was six."

Ruby's own face became horrified. "You- you haven't had a birthday party _in eleven years?_ "

Blake dropped her book as she suddenly found herself crushed by Ruby's speeding body and nearly fell backward to the floor along with the folding chair she had been sitting in. The young girl seemingly trying to envelop Blake in woeful hugs with her arms, legs and head. Her entire body in fact. As if she were some empathy predator pouncing on the prey of terrible sorrow and ingesting it through osmosis.

The Faunus girl wasn't sure how much to say to get Ruby to stop given they had been trying to listen in at some point and had been doing a poor job of it. Opening up once had been enough and something she didn't want to repeat.

"Ruby, you can let go." Blake kept her cool as she struggled to free her limbs in order to dislodge the foreign mass that was attached to her body. "I don't really care about my birthday. It's just another day for me."

This paradox seemed to be the magic incantation that would free Blake from the empathy monster. Ruby slowly removed herself and stood before Blake's chair. The Faunus recovered her book and ran a free hand through her hair as if checking that her black bow was still in place without appearing as if she was doing so.

She looked at Ruby, the other girl's eyes wide and disbelieving. Almost in shock. As if not having birthdays was the worst thing that could happen to a person. "Honestly, Ruby. My birthdays used to be signs that my mother was thinking of me. She was working hard every day so that one day she could show up at our door and take me back. But she died a long time ago and the- people- who took me in afterward had other priorities than dumb birthdays. You know. Like struggling every day against a prejudiced society so that we weren't treated as lower lifeforms and animals? To not be held down and exploited just because we look a little different? Silly birthdays don't matter much when you are just trying to survive. So I never bothered to tell anyone."

"So… when is it?" Ruby asked, clearly not going to accept dodging the question with a valid reason why a girl's birthday might not be a high priority.

Blake sighed and rolled her eyes. "Summer." She saw Ruby fold her arms and the determined expression in her face. "Moonfall. Is that good enough?"

Ruby seemed to accept this for she spun around to point her demanding finger at Weiss. "And you?"

Weiss just smiled. "Sorry, Ruby. Mine is in Moonfall as well. And in case it escaped your clearly impaired attention, they occur during summer vacation. It is quite alright. My birthday parties are part of my duty to my family and far more elaborate than what you can give me in a hospital room. Even though they are more about reminding high society of our exalted place above them and that we were important people rather than the fact that I was born-"

The Heiress quickly clasped her hands over her mouth. Slowly she lowered them back down. _I really need to watch myself whenever I get a concussion in the future_ , she thought to herself. "It was fine," Weiss continued as if pretending she hadn't spoken the previous sentence. "My recital was the same day last year, so I was able to sing on stage before everyone during my birthday concert back in White Castle. It was an astounding success and Father was actually a little proud of my performance."

Ruby was now leaning on her elbows, grinding them into Weiss' bedding and giving the girl her full momentary attention as the forgotten cups she held were crushed against Ruby's cheeks. "Oooooh! Was it recorded? I want to see that. I bet it's uploaded somewhere. Quick! What day was it so I can look it up later!? Please-please-please-"

"What are you? A five year old? Stop begging!" Weiss snapped, eyeing the collapsing paper cups in Ruby's hands which were now smearing trace milkshake residue onto Ruby's face. "Everyone? New rule: Ruby is not allowed sugar while sleep deprived."

Then she sighed, holding the bridge of her nose and slightly shaking her head as a pair of silver eyes bored into her unblinkingly. Knowing Ruby wouldn't give up until she got what she wanted, but having gone without sleep for so long and running on a sugar high the girl's ability to focus her attention was clearly compromised even more than usual. She would forget about it when the next idea hooked her flitting awareness. Telling her would just save time while the result would be the same, as well as saving herself the extra stress on her bruised neurology. "Fine. It was held on the twenty second."

Ruby's unblinking eyes (or were they supersonic blinks?) brightened up as she looked upon Weiss, her chin propped up in her cardboard holding hands. Then she stood back with a slightly disappointed expression. "Aww. Both of your birthdays are so far away and during Summer Break and we won't be together to celebrate- _Doesn't-matter-we'll-have-them-right-now-anyway-I'll-be-right-back!"_

In a sudden flurry of rose pedals Ruby vanished from the room, leaving the now slowly closing door to indicate where she had vanished to. Plus the two empty and collapsed milkshake cups now littering Weiss' bed and threatening to possibly defile the Heiress' sheets with the remaining droplets within if she were to move in the slightest.

Weiss eyed the other two girls sitting within her hospital recovery room. She righteously folded her arms across her chest, unwilling to risk either soiling her sheets, lowering herself or asking the others to do so in cleaning up after the redhead like some maid and preferring to lecture Ruby when she came back. "Seriously. No more sugar to keep Ruby awake. I do not care if she wants to reward herself or not."

The white haired girl let out a deep sigh of surrendering to the inevitable. "I may as well call the nursing station and let them know Yang is moving in with me."

Blake rose from her chair, Yang eyeing her carefully hidden expression. The Faunus took a brief step to the Heiress' bed and collected the abandoned milkshake cups. "I'll just go throw these away."

Weiss watched her teammate as she exited the room with the used cups. "But there is a trashcan right there in the corner," she quietly commented while her teammates left her one by one.

Yang eyeballed the closing door with skepticism. Even with a mushy brain, Yang could tell something was up with Blake. "Maybe she just needs a bit of air. She was just engulfed by Ruby just now. You know how clingy Ruby can be when she forgets about the concept of personal space and how you and… Blake are… well… not." She turned to face Weiss. "You don't have to have the nurses move me in just for a few hours, you know. We'll get some good long sleep in the morning after the next… uh… head scan."

Weiss just turned her nose up as her arms remained crossed and choosing not to mentally comment on the education standards of Patch if it didn't go beyond words with two syllables. "Nonsense. The staff needs to know where you are at all times, Yang. I'm not the one in danger of a hematoma. If anything, we should all be in your room right now. Besides, with Ruby around you will probably be kept here anyways. It is better that the nurses don't have to hunt you down."

* * *

Ruby ran into Blake standing outside Weiss' room. Literally. Dodging those orderlies as she retrieved her things from Yang's room hadn't been easy. Okay, it was ridiculously easy. The haggard men had been rolling Yang's deserted bed out at the time and was momentarily puzzled by the sudden gust of wind that swept past them as she used her semblance to slide underneath, through the door, swipe her backpack and zoom back out along the ceiling as the orderlies' slow-motion heads turned around looking for the cause of the first gust. Then there was the Atlesian Knight guarding the intersection near the elevators and that enthralling call button begging the world to be pushed. That stretch of wall and several ceiling tiles now had dirty footprints marking them and the childish girl hoped the custodian wouldn't be too mad.

Blake caught Ruby for the second time that night, instinctively absorbing the collision on a hastily planted leg. Neither of the girls had been paying much attention to their surroundings.

"Oh, sorry Blake!" Ruby exclaimed in an almost whisper that echoed in the otherwise empty hallway just outside Weiss's door. She wore her backpack and held her arms close to her chest protectively. "I wasn't watching where I was going because I think Yang is being moved and I was thinking about sugar too and how I'm not much of a Dust user like Weiss is, but I _am_ a big sugar user and how great it would be if I could use sugar like other people use Dust-"

"Ruby? Breathe," Blake interrupted as she separated herself from Ruby and held her up as the other girl regained her balance. The redhead almost seemed to vibrate in her hands even at rest. Actually given Ruby's speed semblance, the accelerated heft in using that enormous Sniper-Scythe the girl trained with, as well as imitating a vacuum cleaner if cookies were present, the sugar hypothesis wasn't all that far-fetched.

Her fellow Huntress-in-Training took a deep breath and plunged forward as if she hadn't stopped speaking. "-any way I'm really sorry.-Oh gosh, you look mad.-Are you mad?-Did you have fight with Weiss?-Please don't be mad at her.-She's come so far and I've seen her making an effort to say 'hi' to Velvet-And I know you had to deal with a lot of silly people things that I don't really understand what difference-"

Blake closed her eyes briefly as she leaned up against the wall. Maybe allowing the extra sprinkles and super fudge swirl in those strawberry milkshakes Ruby had ordered on the way back to the hospital hadn't been such a good idea. If that hadn't been, the other two milkshakes consumed in the air taxi Professor Ozpin had called for them certainly was. However, as ridiculous as the idea had been, Ruby had been insistent on not being mistaken as a 'caffeine smuggler' by the glaring security guard who had been eyeing them as they had left for Beacon to gather their overnight necessities. Of course, why she would think coffee would cause problems while milkshakes wouldn't was a mystery.

She took a breath to interrupt Ruby again before the sugar hyped girl could suffocate herself by forgetting to breathe between sentences.

"Ruby," Blake quietly spoke. The other girl went silent, waiting expectantly with shining silver eyes. "It's really okay. I'm not angry at Weiss. I'm angry _for_ Weiss. For… all the… for treating her like something they- Never mind. I just needed a moment."

"Blake, is this about what you and Weiss were talking about? Because Yang said talking was a good thing. But we didn't hear much! I swear! Just something about Weiss's old friends were bad friends and you didn't have any family-"

"She has scars, Ruby," Blake simply stated in a gloomy, whispered voice. "Several of them. She keeps most of them secret because her _family_ drilled it into her head that having them is… a shameful embarrassment to the Schnee name. Just because some other self-righteous-" The Faunus caught herself before she used a word that could hint at what she believed. "-idiot might say something that- Uh. Never mind."

"Is this about her tushie mark?" Ruby asked in an equal whisper. Blake nodded. "I know Weiss gets after me a lot for not having all that sophista-ma-kated stuff she did with fancy tutors and everything. But I'm not stupid either. Patch isn't tame like Vale is, and us locals like to joke that fancy people who think they know things visit so that the animals won't starve during the winter. Yang and I both know a scar when we see one."

Blake looked down at the shorter leader, clearing the indignation from her vision as Ruby spoke. "Back at Signal they showed us a lot of pictures in health class and we had both Faunus and Human kids. I know humans can be born with tails too, but they are not the same at all. They are vesti- vistagle- uh-"

"Vestigial?"

Ruby's eyes shined with appreciation. "Yeah, that. They can be ugly and warped and they can get hurt easy and-"

"I know that," Blake quietly interrupted. "I had a couple too." The girl raised up her left arm and rolled it on its side, displaying her wrist.

Ruby glanced only briefly. "Yeah. They taught us Faunus can have a lot higher chances of those sort of things than a human does. I suppose with Weiss being from a fancy shmancy family it would be real trouble for her."

"But those people-" Blake reached up to point at her black bow. "Ruby, how would you feel if someone cut these off just to shield themselves from having to deal with what I am?'"

Ruby's warm, innocent and friendly eyes looked up into her own. "Blake, that would be horrible and we would stop them. All of us, including Weiss. I wish you would let them out at least in our dorm, and I know Yang feels the same. It should be your home where you don't have to hide and a place to run to. Not away from." She said the words with her naive, child-like love. Without a trace of anger. "I may not understand like you do, but do I know seeing that meant something different for you than her. And I didn't say trouble for the grown-ups. I said trouble for Weiss, and it sounded like the people that got invited to her house weren't nice people. Plus Weiss makes _such_ a big deal out of being perfect all the time. So if Weiss needs it to be a birthmark? Then it's a birthmark, because she is our teammate and we care about her and don't want her to be hurt."

Blake leaned back against the wall, nodding her head with closed eyes. Letting the angry feelings release themselves away from her inner self. At least for now. "You are a lot smarter than Weiss gives you credit for, Ruby."

The other girl just rolled her head back with a laughing snort. "Naw. Things are pretty simple, really. It's always _people_ that insist it is more complicated than it has to be."

Blake nodded, not in agreement, but in appreciating the value of seeing the world through Ruby's simple eyes.

Something dropped out of Ruby's arms and rolled across the thickly waxed and shiny floor. A cupcake from the hospital cafeteria with white frosting and wrapped in a thin blue napkin.

Ruby dove at it, both of her arms still protecting other hidden objects held up to the blouse of her school uniform. "Five second rule!" she cried as her body, weighed down by the backpack she wore, thumped to heavily to the floor.

 _Okay. Maybe not_ that _simple,_ Blake thought, hoping Ruby had brought more than one uniform to change into. Four Strawberry Aftershock milkshakes had definitely been too many.

* * *

Strapped in by the five-point safety harness, Winter pushed her flight couch away from the pilot's controls at the front of her airship's cockpit. The complex navigation systems had been programmed and now assumed control of the craft for the first leg of what would be an equally complex flight plan to be regularly recalculated along the way. Her ship's modular cargo section was overloaded with large metal casks full of atomized Burn and Ice Dust, her ship's piping precisely mixing them and channeling the jet of superheated steam through various thrusters for extra speed. Not to mention the Lightning Crystals plugged into the power grid and enhancing the grav-alloy propulsion vanes. In fact, she had required disposable Rocket Assisted Take-Off pods just to get airborne due to being overweight with volatile propellant dust. Even now most of the extra power to the four slender vanes reaching along her main fuselage was dedicated to keeping her aloft.

The long banners that normally trailed behind those propulsion vanes had been retracted to reduce drag. Impressively decorated as a display, they actually also served to triple the apparent length of her airship for electronic or Grimm eyes seeking out something to tear from the sky. Not that the Atlas Military would ever tell anyone of course. If she crossed paths with a Giant Nevermore, piloting what amounted to a flying bomb without visual countermeasures would prove… interesting.

Especially since Remnant's long distance airships were not designed primarily for speed but _survival_. In a world populated with both terrestrial and aerial species of Grimm, airship hulls traveling between the kingdoms weren't going to be made using flimsy sheet metal like a civilian's town car. Burning dust at a phenomenal rate that would push even _her_ airship's engineering tolerances throughout the flight to Vale and flying at high altitude seeking the trade winds of late spring, the vessel was only reaching airspeeds a bit over fifty knots. Three times the velocity of what her vessel would normally be cruising at for twelve times the burn rate of propellant. Technically the vessel could triple that speed even in level flight, but not without being stranded before reaching a refueling point or overheating vital components by running them flat out for days on end. Not to mention those gravity vanes could only keep so much mass aloft, even overcharged as they were.

Over five months' worth of normal energy consumption would only result in the travel time being reduced by a factor of three and a half. However, following General Ironwood's order, Winter would reach Vale in a few days instead of two weeks as Vale's Breach investigation could not wait.

This suited Winter just fine.

Using the multitude of electronic instrumentation that crowded the space usually meant for a crew of three, the woman pulled herself along to the communications panel immediately behind and to the left of the pilot's position. The heavily padded chair sliding along the guide rails sunk into the flight deck with Atlas manufactured precision and efficiency; allowing mobility within the cabin without the pilot removing her safety restraints and climbing over permanently fitted seats.

Winter manipulated the control surfaces while critically eyeing the displays. After several bureaucratic transfers through the various departments once the transmission connected, a gruff female voice projecting from the cabin speakers took the call and put her on hold. Too much time seemed to elapse.

The voice finally returned. "Ms. Schnee?"

"Yes," Winter replied crisply as she eyed the readings before her. Signal strength and bandwidth was slowly ebbing away as she was nearing the outermost range that even her equipment could transmit to the CCTS tower in Atlas. Voice only due to both the transmission limitations and that of the technology a hospital's nursing staff would be using.

"Your sister says she will accept your call. However, since legal is only permitting this due to doctor's orders for chemically induced insomnia, you will need to keep it brief and not disturb her rest."

"I understand. I will instruct my lawyer to officially forward my most sincere gratitude, and will of course avoid causing any disturbance."

There was the typical sounds of the call being transferred yet again before a familiar and excited voice came through. "Winter?" The tone dropped to a formal one as if the speaker was remembering her manners. "I was not expecting you to call at such a late hour. I am appreciative that you have taken upon yourself the inconvenience to do so."

Winter spoke in an equally formal tone. "It has been no inconvenience at all, dear sister. General Ironwood informed me earlier about your injury and I been in contact with our legal representative since then. Are you well?"

"I will recover soon," Weiss replied, her voice tinny over what must be the hospital room's intercom system since Scrolls were not permitted to broadcast any signal within such buildings. "The doctor says I simply need to rest and let myself recuperate once they clear us from observation-"

"Oh-my-gosh! This that your sister? Hi Weiss' sister! What was your name? Oh right, Winter. Hi, Winter! Don't worry, we'll take good care of Weiss and make sure she doesn't do her schoolwork like the doctors said- HEY!"

"Ruby!" Weiss' raised voice carried through the connection. "Sorry about that, Winter. Ruby is… just excited about observing our birthday early for no reason. I promise that I will not allow my _minor_ convalescence –Ruby, I am talking about you here- interfere with my training. Hey! Did that cupcake fall on the floor? No, don't _eat_ it! What, were you raised in a- You know what? Don't answer that. You shouldn't be having any more sugar anyway! I thought we made a rule about that!"

Another voice, this one spirited and more distant sounding, filtered through the commotion. "Actually, you made the rule, like… uh, ten minutes ago. We didn't actually agree to it."

A fourth voice came through the airship's speakers. This one more calm and reserved. "Yang, for the moment Weiss has a point. Ruby is going to start vibrating through the floor if she eats any more, and she needs sleep more than I do."

Winter spoke up in the momentary lull, forcing herself to not become distracted. "Weiss?" She said in a warning tone. "You are supposed to be resting and yet it sounds as if you are having a _party_!?"

The first unfamiliar voice spoke up. "Oh, it's okay, Ms. Winter, ma'am. The party hasn't even started yet."

" _RUBY_!" Weiss nearly screeched the name. "Stop trying to help! Sorry about that, Winter. It's just a bit of a commotion right now with Yang moving in. They will settle down in a minute. I promise. You hear that Ruby? I promised my sister, and if you don't settle down I will organize a much needed food plan for you once I am thinking clearly because I will _not_ condone this sort of behavior! Omph-"

The voice belonging to this- so far unimpressive- 'leader' suddenly was very close to the intercom receiver and speaking very fast. "You're right, Weiss. You are my friend and you come first. Well, after Yang because she is my sister. But your my partner and my bestest friend forever! Ack! You're trying to talk to your sister! Someone shut me up!"

There was some ruffling of fabric. Weiss was speaking. "Okay, Ruby. I forgive you. _If_ you stop trying to gag yourself with MY bedsheets and let... GO!"

The fourth voice, neither belonging to Weiss, Ruby nor the one identified as Yang, spoke up. "Come here, Ruby. You wanted to figure out how to show us those home movies on Yang's Scroll without breaking hospital rules. Right?"

There was some more shuffling and the distasteful chaos died away. Weiss resumed the conversation. "I do apologize for all the turmoil, Winter. I think in her own way Ruby has been trying to cheer us up after the day we've had. She actually is… somewhat adequate in looking after our team when she remembers to slow down. She just does it in an annoying way."

Winter finally had a chance to speak. However she found herself almost speechless for numerous reasons. "I… see. I wanted to check in on you and let you know my ship will be making a layover for some necessary servicing in Vale within the next few days. From what I have learned after Professor Ozpin's conversation I had tonight, you have left out many important details in your correspondence."

Weiss' dejected tone came through loud and clear. "Yes, Winter."

The woman let out a silent sigh. "I expect a progress report from you once I arrive. Nevertheless, I do look forward to spending a full day of family time with you and meeting your… comrades."

The young girl's voice skyrocketed with joyful hope. "Really? An entire day?"

Winter smiled, knowing how much Weiss revered her. "The overhaul will take several days at least. Perhaps I can even apply for some leave from my duties during my stay."

 _"Oh, Winter!_ " Weiss' transmitted voice revealed that her blue eyes were sparkling with joy even from nearly five thousand miles away. "That would be wonderful!"

"I am satisfied that you are happy, Weiss," Winter truthfully stated and even allowing a slight display of warmth creep in to her speech. "I have to go now. I will not be in communication range for much longer."

They said their farewells and the woman cut off the transmission.

Winter felt too many emotions and closed her eyes to process them quickly. Weiss sounded both annoyed and happier than she had ever been in Atlas. Even healthy in spirit as a young girl should. Surrounded by friends. Actual friends instead of all those self-serving pretenders attending the family's biannual galas. Even to her ears, this Ruby's statement held only the simple ring of truth. A fact as sure as snow was cold. _You are my friend and you come first._

Then came guilt. _First_. Even as important as Ruby's own blood sister. Not even Winter herself had been able to put Weiss first. Not like a child deserved. She hadn't had that luxury. Now Weiss was experiencing people who cared about her as much as the manner in which they did so might vex the young heiress. And according to General Ironwood, willing to fight at Weiss' side and Weiss at theirs. At least one person willing to face danger to save her. Then there was the trepidation of Weiss going after the White Fang herself and had _required_ saving.

On top of all that was the fourth voice. One that held out an agonizing hope too good to be true.

Winter steeled her soul, not allowing what she had heard to have any effect on her emotions. _That fourth voice could still be anyone_ , she told herself. _It might have not even been the subject._ Highly improbable that it was a nurse, but possible.

Calling the girl 'subject' helped in keeping herself centered. Telling herself what she didn't really believe was the case kept her objective.

With deliberate purpose Winter unfastened her restraints and left the cockpit cabin. It was a short distance to her quarters. Simply beyond the cockpit door, down a small set of stairs and a right turn as the rest of the vessel was devoted to equipment, consumables and mission related modules. Once inside she walked over to her bed and knelt at the foot where her personal foot locker was clamped to the deck. Unlike most of the other furnishings, as fine as they may be, this one was of the most exquisite quality. Handmade and carved of the finest Mahogany wood and elegant silver trim, yet lacking the famous Schnee snowflake. Even though the locker had retracted wheels for easy transport and an electronic locking mechanism normally associated with the military, this one object in the compartment was alone in stating " _Don't breathe deeply because your great-grandchildren will be paying damages if you break something._ "

Carefully, the woman released the latches and lifted the polished lid. Inside lay several sets of uniforms, toiletry and weapon maintenance items, and other personal necessities. All arranged with academy precision and neatness. Winter began to remove them one by one until the rich wooden chest appeared to be empty. With near reverential attentiveness she lifted an improvised yet unsuspecting panel that divided the trunk into upper and lower sections. Safeguarding the meaningful objects underneath and allowing Winter to quietly take them wherever her duties sent her.

At the bottom and exposed to light for the first time in so long were seven small objects. Six of those had suffered fire damage. Some quite significantly. The seventh still pristine within its paper wrapping. Under those were a thin stack of yellowed papers bound by the black ribbon of mourning, worn and faded with time, as well as a few bound volumes. Winter focused on planning the task ahead. She would need to gain the trust of that subject most of all and whom would be the most wary. Unimportant to her mission, yet incredibly important to Winter, was that there was only one plausible way to know if the girl was an imposter or not. If the girl was not who she claimed she was Winter had to be prepared to gain her trust, wring all the information she had out of her, and then harshly expose and destroy the girl in righteous retribution. Yet if she was… no, Winter had to be detached and objective in her planning. Methodical. Dispassionate.

The uniformed woman rose up and paced to the cupboards over the stowed kitchenette space. Unlocking the doors, she removed several clear bags and secured the cabinet's surface. After kneeling before the trunk once again Winter carefully, oh so carefully, placed each object into one of those bags and sealed it. All the while making effort to prevent her hands from shaking. The faintest smell of fire eleven years past wafting through the air as the tokens were disturbed after their long rest.

After everything was secured once more Winter stepped away and sat down at the work desk occupying her quarters. Knowing she would be unable to sleep for quite some time and having six hours before contacting the first cruiser by which she could arrange a mid-air refueling, the woman began to organize for her upcoming task. With renewed focus and determination she began to type on the holographic surface. Either way, Winter would be prepared to do whatever was necessary. She was a soldier after all.

* * *

Weiss stood before Yang's bed clutching her IV stand in the dim light. In her other hand she held a different white cupcake, the other one having been thrown away to preserve Ruby's dignity as a human being. Before her Yang lay nestled under her disheveled blanket and wearing a slight smile. The motorized frame propping the blonde brawler up into a relaxed sitting position. Ruby, now dressed in her pajamas, sat on the bed as well; her back to the wall bordering the bathroom with her legs draped across her sister's lap. An excited gleam shined in Ruby's eyes as she clutched the backpack in her arms. Blake sat at the foot of the bed having not elected to change out of her own school uniform, her own legs tucked to the side and leaning her weight on one arm arching over Yang's covered ankles. Both Yang and Blake also held their own day old snacks.

"Come on, Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed in a loud whisper and patting the bedding between herself and Blake. "There is plenty of room and you won't be able to see if you just stand there!"

Yang raised her arm and beckoned with a finger. "What's wrong? You don't want to climb into bed with me, too? It's re-ally cozy." She gave a teasing wink.

Weiss sputtered for a moment. "Don't be so… so…" She glanced at Ruby's unchanging and clueless expression.

Yang let out a quiet laugh as Weiss took her 'I'm-stamping-my-foot-on-the-inside' pose. "Hey, someone has keep our team in the moooood."

"That's right!" Ruby said excitedly as Yang's banter flew right over her head and scored a hit on Weiss' highborn Atlesian propriety again. "This is a 'No Gloomy Zone.' And Yang! You're supposed to not think more than anyone!" Ruby returned her attention to her partner as Yang mussed the leader's dark hair. She let out a long overdue yawn before being able to speak. "Weiss, this our Slumber-Birthday Party for you and Blake. Haven't you had one of those before?"

Of course Weiss was never _ever_ going to admit the truth. Not that she had ever desired such a "Slumber Party" back in Atlas. Her social peers at the time were nothing like the ones she had here in this room. On the surface everything First Family aristocrats of Atlas ought to be, yet not as well. These teammates nothing like they ought to be on the surface, yet somehow-

 _Of course Father would never have approved in any case_ , the heiress guiltily thought. _Too undignified and low borne for the Schnee bloodline, not to mention-_

Yang spoke up quietly, this time with a more serious kindness and pulling the heiress out of her momentary reflection. "Rub-Ruby's never shared this with anyone outside the family before. It's… special."

They all turned to face the blonde for a variety of reasons. She brushed off the verbal stumbling. "Okay, all that sounded a lot better in my head. I have a concussion, on drugs and am wiped out, alright? The doc says it will wear off soon. Honest. Now, I don't want to get all Blakey-"

"Not funny," Blake muttered.

"-so W-ice, just crawl up here with us into the 'No Gloomy Zone.'"

Weiss rolled her eyes at their immature phases and let out a gruff sigh as she climbed up between Ruby and Blake. Carefully arranging her IV line so as to not entangle or catch on the bed frame, Yang's IV stand, random limbs nor anything else. The heiress settled in, smoothing out her simple nightgown and maintaining socially proper spacing but noting Ruby shifting closer to Yang. The youngest girl reached over, ready to tap the waiting Scroll propped up on the hospital tray before them. Ruby looked at Blake with a questioning look.

"Yes, Ruby. You won't get in trouble with the nurse. I triple checked that it is in offline mode so it won't interfere with the bio-monitor signals."

Ruby accepted the reassurance. "Okay? Everyone have their cupcake? Then, go!" She tapped the screen and quickly settled snugly into Yang who wrapped an arm around her sister.

The Scroll went through its 'opening file' phase and then showed only black on its small screen. Soon enough it changed to show some walls that appeared to have been made of whole trees stripped of their bark. Yet the atmosphere of the room was warm. Good lighting filled the room and printed flora art hung on the wall over a brown upholstered couch. The video seemed to be of lower quality for the resolution wasn't up to par. There didn't seem to be any sound either.

Weiss briefly looked at the sisters in confusion. They, on the other hand, were mesmerized by the odd opening. Expectant and snuggled close together.

On the screen Ruby appeared carrying a lemon cake with four lighted candles carefully in both hands. Her plain shirt and knee length skirt colored black and grey. The view now followed her movements as she set the confection down on a simple wooden coffee table. She waved to the camera and said something. Somehow Ruby seemed different.

Then Weiss saw a small child run into view and tackle Ruby's legs. The child's faced turned. It was a smiling, joyful, excited little girl with blonde hair arranged in twin pig tails. Young lilac eyes laughed at the camera with the rest of the innocent face.

Weiss glanced quickly at Blake who returned the look, then back at the small display before them. That wasn't Ruby but someone much older who had a very similar appearance.

An even smaller child with dark hair, this one barely keeping itself upright in the forward rush and wearing a black and red polka dot shirt with diapers, came tottering into the picture. The woman scooped the toddler up as the blonde below clung to her ankle; all three with gleeful giggles. The woman reached in to her pocket and withdrew a cookie. The toddler in her arms lunged at it like a little land shark.

To Weiss' side, Ruby and Yang waved at the video. Yang spoke first. "Hey, Mom. It's good to see you again. I know it's early but we couldn't really wait. I think Ruby wanted our friends here to meet you and- well… It's their early birthday. Ruby is a lot like you were about that."

Ruby spoke up. "Yeah, Mom. By the way, we got into Beacon just like you and dad and Uncle Qrow did. We're even on the same team like you were! You'd be so proud of us, I know. We're a bit banged up and wish you were here right now. Anyway this is our team. And our best friends and partners. Weiss and Blake."

Blake scooted closer to Weiss and waved to the screen. She subtly nudged the Heiress with her elbow. Weiss waved as well despite how…strange… this experience was. Seeing Yang as a little girl and Ruby in diapers. The younger girl sitting next to her practically the spitting image of the woman shown whom Weiss just recently learned was long deceased. Not to mention pretending to interact with a dead woman whom Ruby could have been the reincarnation of in some sort of weird electronic séance.

Blake spoke up. "It is an honor to meet your mother, Ruby. Thank you for sharing something so important with us."

 _That's right. Blake lost her mother too. In fact, never had the chance to even know what she may have looked like._

Weiss instinctively remembered her Atlesian manners. "Yes, Ruby. I graciously offer you my thanks as well."

The three pictured on the screen gathered, or in little Ruby's case was carried, around the couch and leaned over the birthday cake.

Ruby spoke up from where she cozied with Yang. "Okay, everyone. We each take turns saying something we are grateful for and take a bite."

Yang went first, being the older sister and that apparently it was her birthday being played in front of their eyes. "I am grateful I'm alive. That I can say that each day is a gift to live to its fullest alongside my sister, her partner and my best friend."

Ruby spoke immediately after Yang went silent and started smacking her frosting covered lips. "Blake? Your turn."

Blake thought for a full minute at least, staring at the cupcake she held near her lap. Long enough that Ruby paused the video. Blake hugged her knees before she spoke, careful about dropping crumbs into Yang's bedding. "I am grateful for you, Yang and Weiss. After I left… you know, I didn't have a place I belonged any more. They were my brothers and sisters for most of my life, and… that was all gone. Beacon was my one chance to start over and do something honorable with what I had learned from them. Then I was teamed with you three. I didn't want to call attention to myself and everything inside told me to hide in plain sight. Yet I was able to be part of something again. Then you all… when you found out what I was, I expected that... it was all over. Maybe I'd be expelled when word got out. Maybe arrested and sent to prison. Maybe worse. Instead you kept my secret and spent the weekend searching the city for me. To bring me back. Even Weiss chose to accept me when she had every reason not to. When knowing Torchwick and the White Fang were collaborating and it was eating at me, you all cared and intervened for my sake. You all supported my need to try and stop them."

Blake felt a tapping on her right elbow. She raised her head and saw Ruby's hand reaching past Weiss and poking her with a small stuffed animal. A brown duck holding an umbrella.

She took the stuffed toy into her hands. "Thank you, Ruby. Where did you get this?"

Ruby hugged the backpack in front of her once more. "Well, when I was going to the cafeteria I noticed a sign saying the gift shop would be open really late for all the families waiting down in the lobby. I thought that was really nice of them because if they get someone who's hurt a gift, then they have hope that they will give it to them. Of course now I'm broke. But at least I have my emergency cookie stash taped under the toilet tank- _Eep_!"

Ruby clasped both hands over her mouth, wide eyes slowly turning from Blake to Weiss who sat between them.

Weiss was scowling at her sugar hyped partner. "You are an addict. You know that, right?"

Ruby tucked her face into Yang's shoulder as if to hide from the girl sitting next to her. Her muffled voice sounded sheepish. "I just have a really high sugar burn thingy. Like Yang. Only without the fire."

Yang came to her sister's rescue. "Weiss, it's your turn. Hit 'play' and tell us what you are grateful for."

Weiss put her finger to her chin in thought. "Well, I am grateful for-"

"Zzzzzzzzzz-"

The now speechless heiress stared at the suddenly unconscious Ruby lightly snoring into her big sister's shoulder. Yang gave her a look and held a finger to her lips to cut off Weiss' outrage before it started.

The brawler cuddling her sister spoke in a soft whisper, gazing at her sleeping form. "She should have been asleep before lunch and it is past midnight. I think this is the first time today that she felt we were safe enough to let herself go. Surrounded by the people she cares about. Plus I'm sure the sugar crash helped a lot."

Yang looked at her teammates. "We all have reasons to wallow in our own private sorrows right now. The Ice Queen and I are alive only because someone chose not to finish us off. That is it. R-Ruby was probably captured and could have been shot escaping. Innocent people were hurt because we couldn't stop them. We don't even know what happened with Ruby at the back of the train while we were fighting our way forward. Sure, O-Oob-whats-his-face was supervising us and was the official Huntsman. But my little sissy here was our leader through it all. She was the one driving us forward to this point. Sure, we wanted to go after the bad guys but Rubes made it happen. What if things had gone different? She's already lost a mom. What if she lost her only sister and best friend because of the choices she made as leader?"

There was a moment of silence between the three as they looked at their small, childish leader.

Yang continued with her almost usual spirit. "We have a lot to be grateful for. We didn't stop the train, but we stopped it from being a lot worse. And even if we had stopped the train, we would have been trapped. Wouldn't we have been overrun by the Grimm? I for one am glad things turned out as they did."

Weiss and Blake returned their attention to the little video that had been playing once more. Little Yang was ripping open wrapping paper with a relish as little Ruby played with what every small child knew to be the best gift ever invented: a cardboard box.

Blake spoke up in agreement with the 'No Gloomy Zone' policy Ruby had established. "Weiss? I think it was your turn."

Weiss looked at her sleeping partner. "Right. What was I going to say? Ah yes… I am grateful for-"

"Coooookies," Ruby mumbled in her sleep.

Weiss rolled her eyes at the repeated interruptions while Blake held a light hand over her mouth to cover a smile. Yang let out a quiet chuckle, careful not to disturb her sister's slumber.

"Okay, Weiss," Yang replied. "Let's call this a free pass. Dig through Ruby's backpack. I bet she got you something too."

Weiss, with a curious Blake looking over her shoulder, slowly unzipped the backpack clutched in Ruby's arms. Inside were a tangled mess of the leader's clothes strategically crammed together so as to guarantee they would all be horribly wrinkled as efficiently as possible. The heiress again rolled her eyes in a huff, blowing into her white bangs. She tactfully reached in. After a moment, her fingers touched something and Weiss pulled it out. An envelope addressed to Blake. She quickly handed it to the Faunus behind her and went searching inside the pack again.

This time she pulled out an envelope with her own name on it. Weiss neatly opened up the paper and withdrew the contents. A plain, unassuming card. Yang egged Weiss to open it up and read it out loud.

Weiss gave a polite cough into her fist. "It says: 'Roses are Red. Violets are Blue. I ran out of money, so I can't buy poo. But true friends are free, so this Red Rose will have to do. So no matter if you are rich or lose it all, you have a friend who will Fri with you to the End. No matter what. Because that's what true friends do. -Ruby. P.S. Get it? Fri-end? P.S.S. Yeah, I know I messed up the poem. I tried, honest.'"

"Awww," Yang cooed in her teasing tone as her sister was safely asleep. "My little Rubes found her special someone! I bet the invitations are already in the mail. So, Weiss? Will it be a private ceremony or a big Atlas royal shin dig? Or maybe you want to secretly slum it in sin back on Patch." Yang immediately scowled at the Heiress, pointing at her with a nearly accusing and protective finger. "Just know if you think things about my baby sister, I am perfectly okay with going to jail."

Weiss delicately refolded the card and replaced it in its envelope. She looked out across the room at nothing in particular. "I was an evil person in a past life. I just had to be," she whispered in resignation before taking a small bite of cupcake.

Blake just smiled. If anyone could reeducate Weiss in what the term 'friend' really meant, it was innocent, naïve Ruby. The Faunus hid her smile behind her hand while the Heiress politely chewed. Perhaps deep down Weiss knew that too.

* * *

Ruby crawled silently through the tall dry grass on all fours. Her head down low, gaze intent. From upwind came that sweet smell of her prey. Happy sounds drifted through the air. A drop of drool escaped her lips as her mouth parted to show her hungry teeth. Footsteps faintly crunched up ahead in the distance. The grass parted to show the unsuspecting village at last. She tensed her muscles and shook her raised behind. Eyes locked on the two figures conversing on main road leading into the peaceful hamlet.

She lunged, covering the distance instantly and sank her teeth into the first figure. A moment later she was on the second, throwing away the first victim. Other villagers began to cry out, pointing in horror and fleeing into the imagined safety of their homes. Ruby was in joyful pursuit. Shutters slammed over windows and bolts slid to place to secure doors.

Ruby stood on two legs and let out a childish growl as she held her arms up, fingers extended. The frosting of her first two victims covering her hungry face. She turned toward the first gingerbread house, its door made entirely of fudge.

Ruby, the cookieman-eating monster, lunged at the door with a playfully girlish roar and began to chew her way through.

* * *

Yang gazed down at the sleeping little sister she held. Ruby was curled up into a ball now, both fists tucked up under her chin as she slumbered peacefully.

"Cooookie peeeople…" the young girl muttered.

Yang ran her fingers through Ruby's dark red hair with a fond smile.

Weiss on the other hand let out a huff. "You know, that is just really weird." She sighed in surrender. "I guess it _is_ better than acting it out in the dining hall again while we eat. That is just embarrassing."

Yang didn't take her eyes from her sister. "If you want to try and stop N-ora from starting it, be my guest."

The Heiress continued to contemplate the two close sisters as Blake looked on as well; Weiss thinking about her own big sister and feeling a bit nostalgic for the few similar moments she had also experienced in her childhood. Blake remembering treasured memories of sleeping in her grandmother's lap after a dinner of freshly caught tuna.

Weiss inwardly shook herself and looked at the other two conscious girls sitting on the bed. "So I suppose you two are going to leave it to me to explain the innumerous reasons why Ruby can't actually adopt Blake?"

The black haired Faunus dropped her gaze back down to the plain card she held. _We overheard you lost your family. Then the ones taking care of you went bad and you had to run away. IOU one adoption into ours. Happy B-day, Ruby._

"I'll talk to her when we return to Beacon," Blake replied quietly. "Somehow I don't think their father would approve of Ruby making that sort of decision behind his back."

"Yeah," Yang spoke in turn as she continued to comb her fingers through Ruby's hair. "I've already had to play 'Mom.' I am _so_ not ready to play 'Grandma' at seventeen. Especially toward my partner. That would just be weird."

"I know. Having a kid-mother younger than I am with Weiss as the wicked other-mother?"

Weiss grumbled. "Oh, don't you start as well! Yang's demented jests are intolerable enough without you encouraging them."

The Faunus girl reached past Weiss and just barely traced a single finger following Yang's hand through Ruby's hair. "It was very sweet though."

Several soft moments went by as they all sat on Yang's hospital bed, turning in toward self-reflection.

"Blake?"

"What is it, Yang?"

"My dad. He'd probably- I mean it would be a huge deal and everything, you know. But in the end he'd welcome you in. He's… lost a lot too. In the past, you know? If you had wanted to, he wouldn't turn you away from being family."

Blake was understandably silent for some time. "Thanks, Yang. But I'm a-"

Yang interrupted in annoyance. "You're one of us. Bow or no bow."

Blake gave the blonde a sly look, the black bow on her head twitching ever so slightly. "I was going to say I am a Belladonna. I can't imagine suddenly being something else."

"Riiiiight," Yang rolled out, disbelieving her partner.

There were a few more seconds of silence before Blake spoke again. "Yang, thanks for the sentiment. Coming from you, I know that means a great deal. I mean, Ruby's mom adopted you. Right?" _Not to mention you virtually adopted your sister._

Yang nodded silently, a trace tear attempting to escape her eye as she held Ruby. "Yes. And as much as I may feel the need to search for my mom, I'll never forget our mom and what she was to us."

Weiss shook her head, then brought her hand up to her brow to steady the sudden bout of dizziness. "May we have this discussion when Yang's already limited vocabulary isn't further impaired, please? Listening to her talk is really confusing."

* * *

"What do you mean Ruby was born with her aura unlocked?"

Weiss posed the disbelieving question after their small exchanges turned to how Ruby even remembered her mother. She had been complementing Yang on how she had been keeping Ruby's toddler memories of her mother alive all this time. Yet Ruby's feelings of her mother were more than that of just a child growing up watching old home movies and tales spoken at bedtimes.

Blake looked across the Heiress toward her blonde partner. Her golden eyes slightly narrowed. "Yang. That does sound far-fetched."

Yang simply shrugged as if they were debating that the sky was blue. "Our mom... Ruby's mom claimed it was a rare thing from her mother's side. We don't know how it happened or exactly when. So for Ruby, it wasn't some major right-of-passage like when we had ours released. It was just always there and she kinda of had to grow into her semblance later on as part of her training with Uncle Qrow. Before that it was mostly just those rose pedals poofing into existence when she got excited or nervous. Or was just feeling a lot, especially after our mom passed on. My dad called it 'poop-pourri' sometimes because those pedals would be floating around when Ruby messed her diaper during potty training. Or tried to lie her way out of trouble."

Weiss let out a stern breath regarding the sisters. " _That_ explains a lot."

Yang smiled, knowing what Weiss was saying regarding 'poop-pourri' but ignored it. "Actually it does. Imagine being surrounded by your mother's aura and always embracing yours as you grew inside her. Having that for your entire existence until she was just… gone one day. Ruby still feels that absence. Not that she is sad about it anymore. It is just that bond will always be real for her. You know?"

Blake and Weiss looked at each other, both thinking the same thing if for different reasons. That experience was impossible to imagine, but it sounded… nice. And sad at the same time.

* * *

Ruby walked along the roof to the end of the last rail car, her black boots making small thumps on the metal. Slung over her shoulder was an enormous backpack that comically dwarfed her small frame. The girl stopped at the edge. With one hand above her eyebrows she peered down the view of the tunnel rushing past and into the dark distance. The wind whipped at her hair.

The redhead dropped the towering backpack behind her. There were undefined noises and rustling coming from inside. Ruby took in a deep breath before letting out an echoing call. "Here Grimmy, Grimmy, Grimmies! Here Grimmy, Grimmies!"

Soon below her feet and chasing the last train car were a sea of cute Beowolves. Bouncing up and down like excited puppies. Snapping at her toes and yapping up at the girl in cute puppy barks.

Ruby kneeled down, peering fondly at the numberless black creatures foaming below her feet. "Aw, did you all miss me? Yes you did! Yes you did! Who's hungry?"

The frothing of cute Beowolves redoubled in energy.

Ruby stood back up and turned around toward the cartoonishly oversized backpack sitting there on the roof of the train car. She pulled it open and lugged out the equally massive burlap sack from within. On the side, under a 'Grimm Chow' label in bloated sky blue lettering, was a Beowolf caricature with its tongue sticking slightly out of one corner of its mouth. It was winking while giving a happy thumbs up of approval.

Ruby hefted up the colossal and weightless sack. "Okay, Grimmies! Din din time!"

The girl tipped the sack and shapes of people began to fall out. Defiant yells mixed with disbelieving cries. Dim screams of rage blanketed by the wind rushing past. Screams of horror. Screams of the doomed. Black and white protective fabrics. Silver masks hiding their faces. Forms of people simply disappearing into the blackness below, the sounds carried away by the speed of the wind flowing through her hair.

Ruby watched as the endless cascade flowed from the giant sack she held. "Sorry, baddies. My Grimmies can't help what they are, but you had a choice. So off you go."

* * *

Yang looked down at the ball curled up into her side. "Ruby? Are you awake? You're shaking." She reached over and slid the sleeping mask covering Ruby's eyes up over her head.

Both Blake and Weiss looked over at other two, then at each other. Had the nurse missed something? Had Ruby been hurt as well?

A small voice carried itself out of Yang's tightening arms where Ruby was now burying her face. "It was just a dream?"

Yang's lilac eyes met the eyes of blue and amber. Blake reached passed Weiss and laid a hand on her leader's side. Her breathing was ragged. "We're all here, Ruby. We're safe."

Weiss was about to comment before Blake's eyes told her to remain silent.

Yang released her sister from her strong grasp, confident Ruby wouldn't accidentally use her speed semblance before she was aware of her surroundings and zoom straight into a wall. "I'm guessing it was a bad one, huh?"

Ruby uncurled out of Yang's embrace. To Yang's surprise she scooted away, ending up with her back to the wall with her knees level with her chin. Hugging her legs. "No. I was the bad one."

Yang reached over and rubbed her sister's shoulder, offering comfort. "Hey, now. Like you could ever be a bad per-"

Ruby weakly tried to shove the comforting hand away, causing Yang to bear an expression of bewilderment. "I was! I was like a good guy, but I was getting rid of baddies. Like Torchwick."

Yang's look turned into a puzzled one. "We did that. Torchwick is behind bars-"

Ruby interrupted again. "NO! Like I was like a good Torchwick getting rid of baddies."

Yang looked at the others in confusion. Ruby wasn't making a lot of sense, however it was obvious her dream had distressed her.

Ruby hiccupped. "It started out okay. There were Grimm-"

Weiss interrupted. "How is _that_ starting out o-"

She stopped herself when Blake glared at her. The Faunus unseated herself from her position on Yang's bed and crawled around the Heiress, forcing her to slide over the bedding taking Blake's vacated place at Yang's feet. Blake settled herself once more. Not crowding Ruby nor making physical contact. Simply settling in so that the girl was very loosely sandwiched between herself and Yang.

Ruby had stopped shaking but she was clearly not recovered. Unexpectedly she leaned into the Faunus. Wrapping an arm around hers as if seeking a security blanket to hold. Blake took the sign to scoot in closer to the young girl.

"Ruby? It's okay. I've had those kind of dreams, too."

"Blake? You were a baddie once. Right?"

The question surprised Blake. They were fairly comfortable and open about her knowing a great deal about the White Fang. On the other hand, their group still skirted around the subject of Blake's specific involvement. She thought for a moment before answering.

"I thought I was on the right side for the right reasons. And yes, I was part of things I regret."

"Like the people on the train?"

Blake threw an arm around Ruby, taking the moment to exchange glances with Yang as she rested her chin on Ruby's head in comfort. Just as the young girl had been impelled to show comfort earlier regarding her birthday, Blake now returned that offer. "There was a time when I was just as angry. And I did fight. More so, even. It's just that what I really wanted was equality and peace. Just as I do now. That was why I fought and why I finally had to leave. Why seeing Torchwick's involvement tormented me. They were my only family for a long time. My brothers and sisters. Now the White Fang has mutated into something so corrupt and distorted that I can't even recognize it anymore. Become something that is too far gone to be saved. The people on the train chose to be part of that."

Blake felt a small arm wrap around her middle. There was a sniffle. "You turned to good. Others could too. Right?"

The Faunus pulled Ruby in and pressed her lips into the girl's hair in sympathy. "Ruby, I know what you are going through. I was on missions that went bad before. Things that I was a part of that troubled me. Everything went so fast today that it's just starting to catch up. Alright? That is all those kind of dreams are. A part of you just trying to make sense of it all."

She motioned with a wave of her free fingers to Yang, who moved closer to them. Embracing Ruby between them.

Yang spoke to her sister softly. "It's over, now. So why don't you try to go back to sleep? We've got you, Rubes."

Ruby rubbed the troubles from her eyes and nodded off, clutching at Blake's arm.

After a moment, once the room was quiet once more, Weiss crawled back across the bed and over to the other three. Carefully sitting before the other girls with Ruby in the center as she dozed back into slumber.

No one spoke for quite some time. Afraid of disturbing their leader who probably needed rest more than any of them.

Weiss broke the silence first with a whisper. "What was that about?"

Yang scratched her head with a free right arm. The left one now pinned by her sister's inert body. "I don't know. Her dreams are too… cartoony to be that bad. Like the one where she rides in on a Beowolf to save a Prince from bran muffins. Only the Prince is Zwei and she is wielding a giant can opener."

"She rides a _Grimm_?" Weiss asked incredulously.

Yang nodded her head at the dozing girl they were surrounding. "She actually likes Beowolves. They let her be what she was meant to be, you know? The future hero who protects the helpless from monsters. Without them she'd probably just be some boring woodcutter and never make a difference in the world. This time? I don't know. She wasn't making any sense. Blake? You seemed to understand."

Blake nodded as the two concussed girls circled back to the subject. "I know a thing or two about nightmares. Ever have a dream where you were the monster?" she asked timidly. "Nightmares as a kid where the riot police are hurting everyone and there is a club someone dropped and you just need them to stop? Ruby had one of those about the train."

Yang's eyes dropped down to gaze upon her sister and feeling sympathy for Blake. "We faced, what? Three bosses? There was a small army behind us. How bad do you think it was back there?"

Weiss spoke up immediately. "Please! Professor Oobleck was with Ruby. He's a trained Huntsman and she doesn't have a scratch on her! She would have held back and let the actual Huntsman- okay. We _are_ talking about Ruby here. However, we all know the difference between fighting Grimm and fighting actual people. Right? I know Ruby understands that more than anyone. 'Grrr. Dice Grimm. Stop bad guys.' We've all seen the difference in her fighting. Right?"

Yang joined in the reassurance. "Of course she would. She would never fight real people as if they were Grimm. That would be horrific with that scythe of hers, even with the protective gear they wear. Besides, she loves her Crescent Rose. Using it in that way would be like sacrilege."

"Ooooh. Yang used a big word."

"Not the time, Weiss."

Weiss crossed her arms. "Isn't it? Going down this path is the last thing Ruby wanted for us tonight! Look at what she did. She shared something very personal with us to give us something to celebrate. Encouraged us to dwell on what we are grateful for instead of what happened today. Was looking out for all of us until she literally passed out in your arms. So you know what? Whatever may come out of all this, we face it together."

Weiss made her decision. Blake's expressions after being joined by Yang and Ruby restoring her confidence after their private conversation about a previous mission on another train. Remembering Blake's worries about that horrible Lieutenant possibly recognizing her while rescuing his blood enemy. "If someone ever comes for Blake, we stand with her as a team. No more running."

Yang nodded. "If Weiss loses her money, she has a home with us."

"Hey!"

Yang smiled with trace humor. "I'm serious. You have more to lose than the entire school ten times over, and somehow I don't think you know how to be poor if Daddy gets angry." The brawler gave a cocky grin. "We are your backup plan if you need it."

Blake intervened before the conversation could degenerate into Weiss defending herself from something that was true. "If Ruby someday carries a burden too heavy for her, we carry her for as long as it takes. We never quit. Never give up. She wouldn't even hesitate to do that for us."

Yang stretched out her right hand, palm down. "Agreed?"

Blake rested her own hand on top of Yang's. "Agreed."

Weiss, accustomed to far more formal Atlesian pledges and taking a moment to interpret what was occurring, placed her own hand on top of theirs. "Agreed. We're a team."

They looked down at the sleeping leader. Yang spoke softly. "Hey, look at that. She's smiling."

The blonde pulled up her sister's hand and placed it on top of theirs. The three looked at their joined hands. During initiation they had been assigned their places in this team by random encounters in a forest for their education, and not exactly without reluctance. Now their team was a pact. One made willingly and with declared intent.

Blake gazed at their hands. The arrangement full of meaning and promise that she hadn't experienced in a long time. She looked at Weiss. The Heiress of the reproachable Schnee Dust Company had vowed to stand with her if she was discovered. The phrasing hinting at the acknowledgement of her criminal past. If it caught up with her they wouldn't merely stand by her. Team RWBY, including a _Schnee_ of all people who had been the one to declare it, would stand with a former member of the White Fang and face the challenge as one. The hinting by Yang that they would run as a team if they had to.

Blake didn't feel isolated anymore either. Not that she was isolated from the rest. Just that she had been the only Faunus on the team. Now, even if she was alone in the knowledge, Blake knew she wasn't alone. Was no longer the only Faunus in their dorm. She made a silent vow to herself. Ruby was right. If Weiss needed to be human, then she was human. Even if she wasn't. And despite what the rest of her family had done, they had also kept Weiss as their own.

She reached into a pocket and withdrew the paper inside with Ruby's handwriting. _IOU one adoption into ours._ Blake couldn't help but smile. The girl somehow couldn't help but make a difference in her odd little ways.

Weiss on the other hand didn't really understand what she felt. This was so informal and lightly spoken compared to the formal and weighty binding oaths of the Families back in Atlas. She just understood that it felt… good in a way. Like a small weight she hadn't realized had been there had vanished. The Heiress looked at Blake and saw her expression. One of fulfillment and relief. Of being wholly accepted despite being 'tainted.' That a missing part within the girl had _finally_ been sated after amputating herself from the dastardly White Fang.

Sisterhood.


End file.
